How Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine Transformed the Publishing Industry

The feminist icon insisted that women were not a niche audience — and proved it in 1971 with the start of an influential publication owned and operated by them.

When Gloria Steinem started Ms. magazine in 1971, most women’s magazines concentrated on how to keep a house and how to attract a husband. Her publication took a very different focus: liberation.

The magazine, the first owned and operated by women, made the discussion of issues like abortion, domestic violence and equality unavoidable — and revolutionized a generation of women’s writers and publishers.