The Story Behind TIME’s 2026 Women of the Year

The last photograph I can find on my phone of the TIME newsroom before we were dispersed by the COVID pandemic is of a giant wall of magazine covers. For months, we’d been working on our inaugural Women of the Year project. The picture shows the scale of that work: 100 TIME covers, marking the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S. by representing the most influential woman of each year dating back to 1920. That project, led by Kelly Conniff and Emma Barker Bonomo, interrogated long-held beliefs about what influence looks like, and was supposed to be a break from our usual schedule. That photo reminds me of what we did not know in 2020—including that the original Women of the Year would become the foundation for the issue you now hold. Today, this annual project doesn’t just interrogate the past; it offers needed perspective on the present and a spotlight for those who are shaping our future. Led by Lucy Feldman and Cate Matthews, for the fifth year in a row we recognize women working to create a more equitable world—­leaders who we believe are addressing the most pressing issues confronting women and girls in 2026. [video id=QSsTZ0tS autostart="viewable" no_rec vertical] The list always includes those who have earned wide acclaim, and this year’s is no exception, featuring artist Amy Sherald, singer Brandi Carlile, author Mel Robbins, and the actor on this year’s cover, Teyana Taylor, whose revelatory performance in One Battle After Another won over Hollywood. “I love when it’s hard—that means it’s of purpose,” Taylor said. But the stories that I suspect are new to many are the ones I am most excited to share: those of entrepreneur Safeena Husain, who is bringing education to girls in India; Isata Dumbuya, the midwife leading Sierra Leone’s first maternity center; and Sister Norma Pimentel, who is directing humanitarian work at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. “I’m not free until every woman is free,” said Pakistani lawyer and advocate Mahnoor Omer. “I want to leave no stones unturned in terms of what I can do with the next few decades.” “A common theme is urgency,” says Feldman. “This is a critical moment to ensure that rights are protected and progress gained is not lost.” Each year, I love thinking about what the women who were on that first giant Women of the Year wall would make of the newest group. See the full list here.