Phyllis Kriegel was a feminist editor, writer, and activist best known for her leadership of New Directions for Women, one of the largest and longest-running feminist newspapers in the United States. An Englewood, New Jersey resident, Kriegel emerged as a prominent voice during the height of second-wave feminism, combining grassroots organizing with media activism to challenge the male dominance of American journalism and politics.

Kriegel became managing editor of New Directions for Women in the early 1970s and later its editor, working out of the Women’s Rights Building in downtown Englewood. Under her direction, the bi-monthly, 24-page tabloid reached a national readership of about 50,000. The paper covered a wide range of issues often marginalized by mainstream media, including pay inequity, reproductive health, day care, unpaid labor, domestic violence, housing, adoption, and women’s political participation. Kriegel was especially critical of the tendency to confine women’s concerns to lifestyle or “women’s pages,” arguing that women’s issues were central social and political questions.

A self-described late bloomer, Kriegel’s feminism grew out of personal experience. Active in the women’s movement by the early 1970s, she famously participated in the 1974 International Women’s Day march in New York City, where the contrast between public political engagement and private domestic expectations crystallized her political awakening. She later studied women’s history, wrote and broadcast about feminism, and became known for her sharp editorials and accessible, non-dogmatic style.

Despite operating with minimal resources, New Directions for Women relied on volunteer labor, freelance writers, and a strong sense of collective purpose. Kriegel emphasized that the paper was less about profit than social change, viewing feminist publishing as part of a longer tradition of women’s reform movements. Her leadership helped sustain the publication for more than a decade, outlasting many similar feminist outlets.

Remembered as principled, energetic, and pragmatic, Phyllis Kriegel played a crucial role in expanding feminist journalism and ensuring that women’s voices, experiences, and analyses reached a national audience at a time when they were routinely excluded from the mainstream press.