Time March 16–23, 2020JANE FAWCETT AND THE CODEBREAKERS (1941)The Allies’ secret weaponCHIEN-SHIUNG WUnlocking the atomic ageU (1945)MARGARET CHASE SMConscience of a nationITH (1950)THE BUS RIDERS (1955)Demanding dignityJANUARY 2, 1978Princess Diana,^1987
of WThe people’s princessa les(^1962) Kennedy
Defining a new
Ruth BaderGinsburg^1996
Changemaker
MARSHA P. JOHNSON (1969)Pride over prejudice
2014
JudiTh heumann knew whaT iT meanT To be seen. in
1977, after regulations for the first federal disability- rights
law stalled, Heumann, an activist and wheelchair user, or-
ganized a sit-in, crowding more than 100 disabled protest-
ers into a San Francisco federal building. “We demonstrated
to the entire nation that disabled people could take control
over our own lives,” she said. A month later, the regulations
were signed, ushering in a new era of accessibility for mil-
lions of Americans.
Heumann’s stirring story is just one example of the 100
in this issue. Also featured are chemist Rosalind Franklin,
whose role in identifying the structure of DNA was overlooked
in favor of her male colleagues, and environmental activist
Wangari Maathai, who spent International Women’s Day in
2001 in jail for planting trees. Inspired by TIME’s annual Per-
son of the Year, we chose an influential woman for each year
starting in 1920, marking the 100th anniversary of women’s
suffrage in the U.S.
Before 2015, only seven individual women had ever been
named Person of the Year. Indeed, what started in 1927 as Man
of the Year only switched to Person of the Year in 1999.
For me, seeing women on the cover of a magazine created by
men for “busy men,” as TIME’s founders wrote in their original
prospectus, is always powerful. I joined TIME in 2012, when
over the course of a year just a handful of women were featured
WOMEN OF INFLUENCE
From the Editors
Kelly Conniff, execuTive ediTor &
ediTorial direcTor, 100 women of The year
on the cover. In 2019, TIME featured more solo women on its
cover than men for the first time in our 97-year history. The
world has changed and TIME has too, but there have always
been women worthy of TIME’s cover.
Our creative partner, filmmaker Alma Har’el, provided in-
valuable inspiration and is co-producing a documentary on
this project. Creative director D.W. Pine and his team faithfully
reconstructed cover designs of previous eras, working with
dozens of artists to make 89 new covers, and design director
Chrissy Dunleavy crafted the issue. Editors Emma Barker and
Merrill Fabry worked with the TIME staff and outside experts
to carve the final list from 600 nominations, while photo edi-
tor Michelle Molloy and the TIME photo team spent months
researching image archives.
The feminist movement is always about progress, and ac-
knowledging the role of women in history is as much about
looking ahead as it is about re-examining the past. As Gloria
Steinem wrote in these pages 50 years ago, “The most radical
goal of the movement is egalitarianism.”
ON THE COVERS JANE FAWCETT AND THE CODEBREAKERS ILLUSTRATION BY MARK SUMMERS FOR TIME; FAWCETT FAMILY/ANTHONY CROWLEY/CAMERA PRESS/REDUX CHIEN-SHIUNG WU ILLUSTRATION BY JENNIFER DIONISIO FOR
TIME; BETTMANN/GETTY MARGARET CHASE SMITH ILLUSTRATION BY ALAN DINGMAN FOR TIME; BETTMANN/GETTY THE BUS RIDERS ART BY LAVETT BALLARD FOR TIME; AP (2), GETTY (4) GRACE HOPPER ILLUSTRATION BY MARC
BURCKHARDT FOR TIME; ALAMY JACQUELINE KENNEDY PAINTING BY SHANA WILSON FOR TIME MARSHA P. JOHNSON ART BY MICKALENE THOMAS FOR TIME; JOHNSON: ARLENE GOTTFRIED—DANIEL COONEY FINE ART; SIGN: DIANA
DAVIES © NYPL/ART RESOURCE, NY INDIRA GANDHI ILLUSTRATION BY MERCEDES DEBELLARD FOR TIME; GILBERT UZAN—GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY JUDITH HEUMANN ILLUSTRATION BY JASON SEILER FOR TIME; HOLLYNN D’LIL/BECOMING
REAL IN 24 DAYS DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES PAPER SCULPTURE BY YULIA BRODSKAYA FOR TIME TONI MORRISON PORTRAIT BY TIM OKAMURA FOR TIME; SCHIFFER-FUCHS—ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY RUTH BADER GINSBURG PAINTING
BY SHANA WILSON FOR TIME J.K. ROWLING ILLUSTRATION BY LU CONG FOR TIME WANGARI MAATHAI ART BY BISA BUTLER FOR TIME; CLEMENS SCHARRE—THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD FOUNDATION OPRAH WINFREY ILLUSTRATION BY
AMANDA LENZ FOR TIME BEYONCÉ KNOWLES-CARTER PAINTING BY TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA FOR TIME
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