Gloria Steinem, who became a face of the women’s liberation movement in the US, has died, aged 92.

In a post on Instagram, her foundation said she “passed away peacefully” at her home in New York City on Wednesday, “surrounded by many who loved her”.

Steinem, who was a writer and magazine editor, co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance – a group dedicated to fighting sexism – more than 50 years ago.

She started her career as a journalist in New York and went on to co-found Ms. magazine, one of the first publications to focus on women’s issues other than housekeeping and beauty.

During the 1970s, Steinem was a vocal campaigner for women’s reproductive rights, among other causes.

She herself obtained an illegal abortion in London when she was 22 years old, and years later celebrated the US Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in the case of Roe v Wade, which granted women the constitutional right to abortion. Nearly half a century later she witnessed the reversal of this decision.

She also spoke out in favour of the legalisation of same-sex marriage, as well as equal rights and pay for women, and protested against the death penalty and female genital mutilation.

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.