Gloria Steinem is presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony.
On November 20, 2013, Gloria Steinem received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in a ceremony held at the White House. The medal is the highest civilian honor awarded in the United States, recognizing individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to national interests, world peace, or cultural endeavors.
In presenting the award, President Obama specifically cited Steinem's role in co-founding Ms. magazine and her decades-long leadership of the American feminist movement, describing her as a tireless advocate for the rights of women and girls both domestically and internationally.
The ceremony represented a full-circle moment for a woman who had begun her career facing significant professional discrimination as a female journalist, later building institutions—like Ms. magazine, the Women's Media Center, and the Ms. Foundation for Women—that reshaped American media and civic life. Receiving the nation's highest civilian honor was widely seen as an official validation of feminism's mainstream acceptance and lasting institutional impact.
Steinem shared the honor that year with other notable Americans, and the event was broadly covered in national media as recognition of a lifetime of activism spanning more than five decades.