Dolly Parton, the rhinestone-adorned country music superstar who championed women's rights through her songs and business acumen while deliberately avoiding the label "feminist," died on 25 August at the age of 79. Her death came just eight days before that of Gloria Steinem, the overtly political co-founder of Ms. magazine, prompting widespread mourning over the loss of two women who — in starkly different ways — spent their lives insisting women should define themselves on their own terms. Where Steinem spoke the language of feminist activism, Parton expressed the same conviction through hits like "9 to 5" and "Just Because I'm a Woman," famously keeping her political opinions private to remain a unifying figure across America's cultural divides.