Born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, she had a difficult childhood and did not go to school full-time until she was 12 years old.

After university in the late 1950s, she went to India on a research scholarship and spent two years in a variety of roles, including helping village women organise non-violent protests against government policies, which sparked her interest in grassroots activism.

She then moved to New York City in the early 1960s to start her career as a freelance writer. Her big break came through an exposé of Playboy Bunny working conditions.

Eventually she became a columnist for New York Magazine, before founding Ms. magazine in 1972.

Famously eschewing marriage, she went on to tie the knot in 2000 to David Bale, a South African-born entrepreneur-environmentalist and father of actor Christian Bale. He died three years later from brain lymphoma.

In 2013, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US.

Her foundation said “she continued working for equality until the very end”.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard. Her words, actions and example gave people permission to be their truest selves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humour.”

Her foundation said she lived her last years being in community and writing – welcoming guests into her home for “Talking Circles” – a tradition that will continue.

Her commitment to her home becoming a centre for social justice movements, and a forthcoming book An Unexpected Life, are “among many gifts Gloria has given the world with the hope they have ripple effects for generations to come”, the foundation said.

Tributes flowed on Thursday after the news of her death, with writers and feminists commenting on Instagram with gratitude, some of them saying she had changed their lives.

Meghan Markle “celebrated the life and legacy of my friend and mentor”, along with pictures of the pair on Instagram.

“You all know her many accolades and the way in which she helped shape the world for woman and all people”, Markle said, but added that beyond their work together, Steinem “privately, was even better than you would imagine”.

Steinem spent Thanksgiving with Markle’s family, introduced the younger woman to one of her best friends, loved “our children with her whole heart, counseling me during hard times, and giving extraordinary advice and perspective with a cup of tea and an unrivaled cheekiness and wit”, she said.

Markle now wears “with pride” a bracelet Steinem gave her that says “we are linked, not ranked”.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 2016 presidential candidate said Steinem was “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality, I mean tearing down those obstacles to young women being able to participate where their talents and hard work took them”.

“Gloria was at heart an optimist,” Clinton told CBS Mornings on Thursday.

“Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.”