TIME Passes Up Woman for Person of the Year — Again
Early on Dec. 10, TIME magazine announced its person of the year: the Ebola fighters.
The magazine’s eight finalists for the 2014 title were announced on Dec. 8 and nominees included the Ferguson protestors and Russian president Vladimir Putin, but pop-country songstress Taylor Swift was the only woman to make the list as an individual.
The TIME tradition of naming a person who has been the most influential in the news for good or for ill of the year began in 1927 and the magazine has included politicians, cultural icons, the symbols of movements, and business people annually.
Despite the range of selectees’ professions and accomplishments, there is something that the list is glaringly missing amongst the list’s alumni: women.
TIME has selected just three women to be persons of the year as individuals — and the last one was Corazon Aquino in 1986. Before her, Queen Elizabeth II was given the annual title in 1952 and Wallis Simpson in 1936.
In 2005, Melinda Gates was dubbed a person of the year in conjunction with her husband, Bill Gates, and Bono. Other group winners include Generalissimo and wife Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in 1937, the U.S. Women responsible for the feminist movement in 1975 and the Whistleblowers responsible for unearthing the Enron scandal (Coleen Rowley, Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins) in 2002.
Broader groups include 2006’s selection of You, based on the impact individuals had on global media that year and 2011’s The Protestor, chosen for their ability to change the world.
Several men have been chosen as TIME’s person of the year twice and each was the leader of a country. Duplicates include presidents Barack Obama (2008, 2012), George W. Bush (2000, 2004), Bill Clinton (1992, 1998), and Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was selected three times (1932, 1934, 1941).
Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin was selected twice in 1939 and 1942, and one of his successors, Mikhail Gorbachev, was chosen in 1987 and 1989.
Nowhere on the archived list are former United Kingdom prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, or German chancellor Angela Merkel who was named Forbes No. 1 most powerful woman this year.
Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has never been selected, nor has Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, whose name filled headlines when she ended a work-from-home policy in February 2013.
In terms of contemporary pop culture, there are several female celebrities who were in the spotlight this year that aren’t in the running either.
Emma Watson’s #HeforShe campaign dominated headlines for weeks and drew international praise. Beyonce put out a surprise album at the end of 2013 and her 2014 tour with husband Jay Z shed light on the pair’s very private life, filling the trending boxes on Facebook and Twitter for what seemed like weeks.
Are the TIME editors who have the ultimate say missing their mark or is it up to the readers to influence the presence of women on the list?
Last year, TIME conducted a reader poll asking for input in the magazine’s editors’ decision to pick a person of the year. As of Nov. 26, while voting was still open, Miley Cyrus of the 2013 twerk fame, was the leading woman on the list per readers with 1.2 percent of the vote. She trailed Edward Snowden, Narendra Modi, Bashar al-Assad, and Putin. The 2013 honor ended up going to Pope Francis.
If it were up to the voters, this year’s selection would be Modi, the Indian prime minister who garnered more than 16 percent of almost five million votes cast. Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize this morning, made it into the readers’ top five but she was nowhere to be found in the round-up of eight finalists.
In a photo history on its website, TIME acknowledges that it has “honored few women in the past, but those who have been chosen…have been extraordinary.’’
With the announcement of 2014’s person of the year today, it has to be asked: has TIME skipped over deserving women in the past or were the selections simply due to the fact that male winners were stronger candidates?
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