Archive · 7 Sep 2026
How India Shaped Gloria Steinem’s Feminist Leadership and Activism
Gloria Steinem went to India in 1957 when she was 22 years old.
She wanted to travel and also wanted to avoid a marriage she did not want.
India changed how she saw poverty, politics, education and everyday life.
She talked with students, families and women on trains.
She also helped Gandhian peace workers speak with villages affected by violence.
From them, she learned that people should listen to one another and decide what they need together.
She later used these ideas in the American women’s movement.
They influenced the way she organized feminist campaigns and helped shape Ms. magazine.
Steinem said India taught her to listen by going where people lived.
Gloria Steinem arrived in Bombay in 1957 on a Chester Bowles fellowship, partly to escape an engagement and expectations of marriage.
During nearly two years in India, she studied student life, met prominent figures, worked various jobs and traveled widely.
Her most influential experience came with Gandhian peace workers responding to caste violence in what was then Madras state.
Steinem learned the value of listening-based group discussions, consensus and asking communities what they wanted rather than prescribing solutions.
After returning to the United States in 1958, she later applied these lessons to feminist activism and to Ms. magazine, which she co-founded in 1972.
- Who
- Gloria Steinem, along with Indian students, political figures, women travelers and Gandhian peace workers.
- What
- Steinem spent nearly two years in India, where she developed organizing ideas that later influenced her feminist activism.
- When
- She arrived in 1957, returned to the United States in 1958 and later drew on the experience during the women’s movement and the founding of Ms. magazine in 1972.
- Where
- She traveled through India, including Bombay, Delhi, Mussoorie, Kerala, Calcutta and what was then Madras state.
- Why
- She initially sought travel and an escape from an unwanted engagement, but stayed longer after her fellowship funds ran out and gained formative experience in community organizing.
- Arrival
- Steinem arrived in Bombay in 1957 at age 22.
- Fellowship
- She came to India on a Chester Bowles fellowship.
- Stay
- She lived in India for almost two years and returned to the United States in 1958.
- Key influence
- She worked with Gandhian peace workers after caste violence in Ramnad district.
- Organizing lesson
- She learned to listen to communities, let people speak in turn and ask what they wanted.
- Later application
- She applied these ideas to feminist activism and Ms. magazine, co-founded in 1972.
- Death
- The article says Steinem died the previous week at age 92.