Not since 1986 have we seen a woman named as Person of the Year.
This year’s Time Magazine Person of the Year joins a list of just four women ever to grace the prestigious magazine cover.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has been named by the magazine for her role in Europe’s crises over migration and Greek debt.
Mrs Merkel had provided “steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply”, editor Nancy Gibbs wrote.
Merkel is only the fourth woman to ever be named Person of the Year, after Time opened up the contest to women in 1936. Until 1999, the title was actually Man of the Year.
When Corazon Aquino, the first woman president of the Philippines graced the cover in 1986 she was called a “Woman of the Year” with a parenthetical: (Man of the Year).
Only three other women besides Merkel have held the title individually in the history of Time’s publication: Wallis Simpson in 1936, Elizabeth II in 1952, and Aquino
A group of women – Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Sherron Watkins from Enron – represented whistleblowers were crowned Persons of the Year in 2001.
Angela Merkel, 61, who grew up in East Germany before the country was reunited, has led Germany since 2005.
“Merkel had already emerged as the indispensable player in managing Europe’s serial debt crises; she also led the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s creeping theft ofUkraine,” Time editor Nancy Gibbs said in a statement.
“But now the prospect of Greek bankruptcy threatened the very existence of the euro zone. The migrant and refugee crisis challenged the principle of open borders. And finally, the carnage in Paris revived the reflex to slam doors, build walls and trust no one.
“Each time Merkel stepped in.”
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named runner-up and third place went to US presidential hopeful Donald Trump who had a typical Trump hissy fit after not being selected.
While Time runs a poll for readers to vote, the decision on winners is made independently by the editors. Mrs Merkel joins an list of former winners, including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill and Richard Nixon.
Last year the title went to ebola fighters and the year before that, Pope Francis.
Time Magazine wrote that despite it being 29 years since the last female was awarded the accolade they would not be surprised if another woman won it in the near future.
“It seems likely that, as more women assume roles of power around the world,” Radhika Jones wrote for the magazine “from Christine Lagarde to Janet Yellen to Sheryl Sandberg to Aung San Suu Kyi, we will have more female candidates in the Person of the Year pipeline.
“I don’t think a woman is going to be pope anytime soon, or take over from Putin. But I doubt it will be another 30 years before the Person of the Year is a woman. It might only be one.”
Lets hope so.
Top Comments
Time's Managing Editor is the brilliant Nancy Gibbs. She became the magazine's first ever female managing editor in October 2013 (Time was launched in 1923 so it was a long time coming). While I think the choice of Merkel certainly makes sense for this year's Person of the Year, because Time makes this selection based on who (or what, because the choice is not always a person) has had the most influence, good or bad, in the previous year, I wonder how much of an impact Gibbs had in influencing the final choice. I am not suggesting that Merkel was chosen because Gibbs is a female editor, but I am saying that Gibbs as an influential woman, has an important role to play in terms of increasing the awareness of the achievements of women like Merkel. And maybe one day, we won't need to make a point out of the fact that a woman (finally) gets recognition for something, because it won't anything inconceivable. Imagine highlighting someone's achievements without having to say they are a woman (or for that matter, a man, or trans or bi or gay etc.....).
Well I think it's fabulous. A leader that is both rational and compassionate, and not swayed by ignorant fear. Truthfully, I don't know much about her, but her response to the refugee crisis was impressive.