Waking up to the news that Gloria Steinem had passed was a shock. This woman was ageless. Her fight for women’s rights endless. How could this have happened? To those of us who grew up with Ms. Magazine and all of Gloria’s many triumphs and challenges, she was an important part of our upbringing and our understanding of ourselves as women and what we could be and achieve. Her desire to spread the word about how women can effect change is an inspiration to this website and women globally.
I just came across my friend, one time colleague, and psychotherapist Susan Podbielski‘s Facebook post and wanted to share it with you. Gloria left a lasting impact on her as you’ll read, as she did on so many of us. RIP Gloria!
Photo: Courtesy S. Podbielski
From Susan:
I thought I would hear Gloria Steinem speak publicly one more time. I signed up to hear her at the New Yorker Festival this month, only to find out her event was completely sold out. I remember being awestruck when I briefly was introduced her.
It was my 23rd birthday and some friends who were connected to the women’s movement took me to an event in which she and the great Betty Friedan were attending. My mentor at the time, a great writer named Nancy Seifer, who wrote the book about blue collar women and the feminist movement, Nobody Speaks For Me, led me over to Gloria and told Gloria it was my birthday. She asked me how old I was and when I told her, she said in a serious tone, “I could be your mother.”
How this beautiful, strong, incredibly intelligent woman could ever be related to me was beyond my comprehension and I did not know what to say. I stammered something and remained awestruck. I never want to disparage my own mother who made me, but little did I realize that in a very real way this childless woman was also my mother, and mother to so many women who needed a role model, an icon, someone “to be like” because there were so few like the unique and courageous figure she was.
Today, I spoke to an accomplished young woman attorney who is just beginning to take her place in society as a positive force for women. We cried together for the woman who was a mother to us all. May we all, women and men alike, be individuals of both conscience and consequence as Gloria Steinem was.
“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day;
a movement is only people moving.” —Gloria Steinem
Lead Photo: Gloria’s new memoir publishing Sept. 22, 2026
Website for Susan Podbielski: susanpodbielski.com
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