How We Chose the 2025 Women of the Year

When we sit down to think about the Women of the Year each winter, we ask ourselves the same question: What are the most significant issues facing women and girls around the world right now? Challenges are abundant, from gender-based violence and attacks on women’s rights to the dangers of a volatile climate. But everywhere those threats can be found, so too can leaders pushing for change. The 13 women on this year’s list are all, in their own way, working toward creating a better, more equitable world. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Two of the stories you’ll find in this year’s package are about ordinary women who, in the face of personal tragedy, took extraordinary actions. In the fall, Gisèle Pelicot, a 72-year-old grandmother in Provence, found herself at the center of a horrific rape trial, in which her husband was ultimately found guilty of drugging her and inviting more than 70 men to have sex with her without her knowledge. Pelicot’s choice to waive her legal right to anonymity made her a hero to survivors across the world as she called for change in France and beyond. “I say it is not bravery,” she told the court in October. “It is will and determination to change society.”

Like Pelicot, Amanda Zurawski never imagined herself an activist. She was simply a woman excited to become a parent when, because of a complication with her pregnancy, she miscarried and required an abortion. Because of the near-total abortion ban in Texas at the time, a result of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Zurawski was unable to receive treatment until she was in such medical distress that her reproductive organs were left permanently compromised. She sued the state in 2023, only for the Texas Supreme Court to uphold the ban last May. Now prominent in the movement to protect reproductive rights in the U.S., Zurawski remains determined: “It’s not in my nature to give up.”

This year, we honor women who have identified a problem and vowed to be part of the solution. When actor Olivia Munn was diagnosed with breast cancer, she shared her story on social media, encouraging others to utilize the screening tool that led her to pursue further testing, despite having a clean mammogram. When Fatou Baldeh, a Gambian activist, learned that her government was threatening to undo protections against female genital mutilation, she doubled down on her fight to uphold them.

And when Nicole Kidman, who appears on one of our covers, recognized the need for a shift in the balance of power in Hollywood in 2017, she vowed to work with at least one female director every 18 months. In the eight years since, she has produced or acted with 19 in film and TV. It helps that Kidman, who most recently starred in emerging filmmaker Halina Reijn’s subversive Babygirl, feels a drive to stay busy. Because her participation can move a project to greenlight, she literally creates jobs. Hollywood’s status quo can change, she says, “but it can only be changed by actually being in the films of women.”

Representation matters, but so does investment. And there was no field that more notably celebrated the strengths and achievements of women in the past year than women’s sports. Gymnast Jordan Chiles and WNBA star A’ja Wilson, who each appear on a cover, became fast friends when they met in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. They reunited for a conversation about the unprecedented audience engagement and surging financial support that women’s sports received in 2024. “It opened up doors for all of us,” Wilson says. “What makes it even better is that we win—and we look good while doing it.”

Kidman, Wilson, Chiles, and more will join us later this month at our annual gala in Los Angeles, where genre-blending artist Laufey, also a Woman of the Year, will give a special performance. We’re thrilled to convene such inspiring leaders, with support from our partners, including Rolex, at what is my favorite event of the year—and we can’t wait to hear what they have to say.