Twelve influential women from across the globe are being recognised in TIME magazine’s annual Women of the Year list for using their voices to fight for a more equal world.
Their impacts and activism range from fields in government to arts and sports.
One of Australia’s own, Cate Blanchett is among the powerhouse group of women for her work in the arts and fighting for change in Hollywood.
“Blanchett’s prowess in front of the camera is itself a testament to the multitudes that women contain,” writes Time, adding that she “is both spectacular and reprehensible” for her role as the protagonist in this year’s highly celebrated film, Tár.
“We are brave, we are noble, we are generous, we are collaborative,” Blanchett told Time. “But we are also the dark side of that, because women are complex things.”
Iranian journalist and activist, Masih Alinejad was recognised for her refusal to stay silent against the horrid treatment of women in her home country.
After exposing corruption in the Iranian government, Alinejad has been the target of at least two regime-backed kidnapping and assassination plots. She was exiled in 2009 and has been living in the US, where she continues her fight for Iranian women’s rights.
In Brazil, Anielle Franco is channeling the grief of her sister’s assassination into action as Minister for Racial Equality in the new government. Now a leader in Brazil’s Black rights movement, Franco lost her sister Marielle, a city councillor in Rio de Janeiro to a 2018 assassination for protesting against police violence and corruption.
Championing women’s health, feminist activist Véronica Cruz Sánchez has helped women in Mexico safely navigate abortion for years and, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, is now supporting American women.
Also advocating for abortion rights on Time’s list is indie-rock musician Phoebe Bridgers. Having shared her own abortion story to her millions of fans last year, Bridgers is making the conversation more transparent through her songwriting and activism.
In Ukraine, Olena Shevchenko has been advocating for women’s and LGBTQI rights as Russia’s war has increased the vulnerability of marginalised groups.
Making crucial impacts on climate change in her community in Pakistan, Ayisha Siddiqa is calling out the links between human rights and climate change. In November, she delivered a powerful speech at the U.N. Climate Conference in Egypt on climate justice’s urgency.
“We, collectively, have come to a point where we are ignoring the cries of earth mother,” says Siddiqa. “That is how the climate crisis is linked to women and girls, because the same structures that are uprooting, abusing, hurting, taking without consent, is how we treat planet earth. The very thing that gives us life.”
Also on the list of influential women is Ramla Ali, Angela Bassett, Megan Rapinoe, Quinta Brunson and Makiko Ono
Many of the women will be attending Time’s Women of the Year gala on International Women’s Day (March 8th) in Los Angeles.