The Guardian collected tributes from readers around the world remembering Gloria Steinem, the feminist campaigner and writer who died recently, describing her lasting influence on generations of women. Contributors recall how her ideas shaped their sense of identity and purpose, from encouraging women to pursue careers on equal terms with men to inspiring lifelong engagement with feminist activism and gender studies, underlining her role as one of the defining voices of the modern women's movement.

The recollections span decades and continents, including an encounter at the 1959 World Festival of Youth and Students in Vienna, a chance meeting on a New York City subway in 2014, and a university talk in Wichita in 1972 that spurred one reader to campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. Readers, among them engineers, journalists and educators from Switzerland, the US and beyond, praised her warmth, humour and approachability, with several describing how personal encounters with Steinem shaped their careers and their understanding of sexism and women's rights.