Leading figures from politics, entertainment and wider society led glowing tributes to Gloria Steinem on Thursday, with Hillary Clinton hailing the American feminist icon who died at 92 at home in New York as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality”.

Clinton, a former US secretary of state, presidential candidate and first lady, was among the first to jump in with praise early on Thursday when she appeared on the CBS Mornings TV show to share her respect and gratitude for Steinem.

Clinton urged younger generations to use Steinem as a role model in supporting each other in promoting the causes she championed.

“I’m hoping that young women realize that the fight is worth it,” she said. “It is exhilarating.”

Others who eulogized Steinem included Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker, who called her “a fearless trailblazer who transformed the fight for equality in America”. Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, added her voice to call Steinem her “friend and mentor”, while music icon Patti Smith referred to her as “the greatest”.

Jill Biden, another former first lady, released a statement in which she said she and former US president Joe Biden “are holding Gloria’s loved ones in our hearts”.

Biden wrote: “Gloria Steinem understood that women’s equality begins with the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, health, and futures. For decades, she fought to make that freedom real for generations of women and girls.

“She spoke up when it was difficult, listened to those whose voices too often went unheard, and never stopped pushing our country forward. Her voice changed our country, and her courage will continue to inspire us to keep fighting for the freedoms she spent her life defending.”

Steinem had supported Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as the Democratic nominee running against Republican Donald Trump, which was ultimately unsuccessful as Trump prevailed in an election that would have given the United States its first woman president. Clinton said on Thursday she was “heartsick” at news of the death of her feminist friend and ally.

“Everyone who not only knew her but followed her, was inspired and challenged by her,” she said.

“I think back to my first awareness of Gloria way back in the 1960s into the 70s, when all of a sudden this incredibly smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity, how we should aim for the stars, be able to pursue our own dreams.

“I knew there were, back when I was a young woman, schools that wouldn’t take women, jobs that wouldn’t take women, scholarships that weren’t open to women. I lived it.

“But the lived experience became much more real and applicable to our entire society when Gloria began to point it out.”

Clinton noted Steinem’s distaste at what politics had become in recent years, and said she had “the most incredible conversation” with her during a visit to Steinem’s home last year.

“Even though we’re facing some challenges and pushback here in this country and around the world to women’s full participation and equality, Gloria was at heart an optimist,” she said. “Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.

“With all of the setbacks that we’ve seen over the last decade or so, I want her voice to remain in our heads.”

Pelosi paid tribute in a post on X that said: “Gloria Steinem was a fearless trailblazer who transformed the fight for equality in America and inspired generations of women to know their power.

“Her voice, courage and relentless advocacy helped break down barriers and open doors once firmly closed to women. May it be a comfort to all of us who loved Gloria that her extraordinary legacy will live on in every generation that carries her fight forward.”

Markle posted her memories on Instagram. “Celebrating the life and legacy of my friend and mentor, and also grateful to know that in these last few weeks and days she knew exactly how loved and admired she was,” she wrote.

“My very favorite story about GLO is when she was out one day in NY, and a woman approached her in absolute awe and said she wanted to introduce her young daughter to her (though she was embarrassed to say the young girl may not know who she was).

The post continued: “Gloria replied: ‘It doesn’t matter if she knows who I am. What matters is that she knows who SHE is’. Rest in peace, and rest in pride.”

Smith, who shared a similar path to Steinem as a cultural revolutionary icon emerging from New York in the 1960s and 70s, posted a brief tribute on Instagram. “This is the greatest Gloria. All are grateful for her revolutionary spirit; a lifetime of service,” she wrote.

Oscar-winning actor Julianne Moore played Steinem in the 2020 biopic The Glorias. She said on Instagram: “The time I spent studying Gloria in order to play her was one of the most edifying of my life.

“Everything I watched, everything I read, everything I observed about her gave me a template for how I wanted to behave. Her honesty, her tolerance, her patience, and her insistence on humanism and inclusion as she moved through the world offers us all a moral roadmap.”

Fellow Oscar winner Sandra Bullock said: “With her bare hands and force of will, she paved the roads that millions of us are able to walk on.”

Others who paid tribute on Thursday also recalled Steinem’s trailblazing.

“Gloria was one of a kind. Genuine, generous, curious, thoughtful. She lived a staggering life and her passing is a staggering loss tempered only by the ferocity of her legacy,” Roxane Gay, the prominent social commentator and author of Bad Feminist, commented on the Instagram post announcing Steinem’s death.

The veteran journalist Ann Curry, who overcame prolific newsroom misogyny early in her career to become one of the US’s most respected broadcasters, also posted on social media.

“Thank you Gloria,” she wrote. “You once told me in an interview that it was your mother’s suffering that first moved you to take action for the rights of women. May you now be in her embrace. How the lives of so many shine a little brighter because you were in this world. With respect.”

Christiane Amanpour, an award-winning former war correspondent and now chief international anchor for CNN, posted her tribute on X.

“Gloria Steinem will go down in history as one of the most important activists of all time, leading a movement for the equality of half the world: its women,” Amanpour wrote.

“She lived a long and passionate life dedicated to this vital and basic cause. She did it with intellectual precision, emotional awareness, humor and beauty. May she rest in peace and may the cause thrive.”