These 13 incredible women have made a global impact across fields like entertainment, activism, public health, conservation, and leadership. They continue to challenge injustice, uplift communities, and serve as beacons of change.
TIME’s Curated Women of the Year 2025 Honorees
Nicole Kidman
Acclaimed actor and producer, recognised for her commitment to working with female directors and amplifying women’s voices in Hollywood at the age of 57. Her dedication toward work has been seen in the recent movies, Holland, with her co-star Gael Garcia Bernal. Her efforts were finally recognised, raising her hand for resilience, hope, and the courage that she put in for women’s empowerment in her field of entertainment. Through her work, she helped and encouraged many women seen fighting for equity and justice. Thus, on gala night, all she could say was, “Honor each other, create opportunities for each other, protect each other, and encourage each other.”
A’ja Wilson
WNBA star and advocate for equity in women’s sports, celebrated for her leadership on and off the court. 28-year-old basketball player who won Woman of the Year 2025, which she truly deserved. Wilson was the one made it possible of record breaking viewership. NCAA for the first time ever, had more views for the women’s championship than the men’s. Therefore, at the Paris Olympics, there were the most watched days for the first time in history where equal numbers of men and women completed. Wilson set new WNBA records for points and rebounds and picked up her third MVP title. Not only this but also helped the US Olympic team to achieve gold in Paris. She authored “Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You” in 2024, which has become a best-seller of the year.
Jordan Chiles
Olympic gymnast who made history at the Paris Olympics, contributing to the first all-Black podium in the women’s floor competition. Jordan Chiles is the one who helped the USA team win silver in Tokyo. It had all happened when Simone Biles famously withdrew because of potential mental health issues. She was awarded the bronze for her spirit. They were her friends, family, strangers, and legal advisers whom she relied on a support to cheer her up. Chiles went viral many times for her routine for UCLA. She has also written a book of memoirs, “I’m That Girl.”
Purnima Devi Barman
Indian wildlife biologist and conservationist, known for her work in protecting the endangered greater adjutant stork through community engagement and the formation of the “Hargila Army.” It all started with a call, and going on, her mission started. It was 2007 when she found the interest of her life. “For the first time, I felt the importance—the call of nature,” she says. “From that day, my mission started.” A story that inspired her was about chopping a tree down in Assam state due to birds. Thus, she started saving the lives of birds and educating people about the importance of life without birds.
Gisèle Pelicot
French activist who became a global icon in the campaign against sexual violence after confronting her assailant in a high-profile case. Police found more than 20,000 photos and videos on Dominique’s laptop and other devices showing Gisèle, drugged into unconsciousness by her husband, raping more than 70 different men without her knowledge. All had happened over nearly a decade in her life. Gisele chose to waive her legal right to anonymity.
Olivia Munn
American actor, 44, and breast cancer awareness advocate, who publicly shared her diagnosis and treatment journey to raise awareness. She has a very inspiring story of her life. In 2023, Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer. She keeps stress far away from her life. She finds happiness in her small daily activities. “I look at videos of me laughing with my son, running around in the park, feeling and looking healthy—all the while having this really aggressive, fast-moving cancer spreading through my breasts,” she says.
Fatou Baldeh
Gambian women’s rights activist and founder of Women in Liberation & Leadership, campaigning against female genital mutilation. Baldeh, 41, is a leading activist fighting against the wrong practice in Gambia. FGM has no health benefits, only traditional barriers, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves 3-5 types of removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue. It only interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. To make you aware of it, all forms of FGM are associated with increased risk of health and complications.
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot
CEO of Feeding America, leading efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity across the United States. Claire found the country’s largest hunger-relief organisation. “When all of those long lines of cars and the people that they represented went back to the insides of buildings, it’s like they disappeared from the American consciousness,” she says. She is the one who brought the ratio of food insecurity from 28% to 13%, as per the US Agriculture Department survey in 2019.
Raquel Willis
Transgender rights activist and author, advocating for marginalised communities through writing and public speaking. Yes, Raquel Willis, who protested Black transgender lives and protected their rights. In December 2024, in defiance of a proposal, Willis was arrested at the Capitol for staging a bathroom sit-in not to ban trans women from women’s restrooms on federal property. “Our society is not primed to honour queerness or transness,” she says. She is the founder of the Gender Liberation Movement (GLM). “For us, gender liberation is about bodily autonomy, self-determination, the pursuit of fulfilment, and collectivism,” she added. “We want to be the glue between these different fights and get people talking about how restrictive ideas around gender impact us all.”
Amanda Zurawski
Reproductive rights advocate and lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Texas’s restrictive abortion laws. The motivation was behind her own story in 2022. She got pregnant after many trials, and her water broke in just 18 weeks. “I had to wait until the baby died inside me or for me to be on death’s door before I could get care,” she says. She went into a life-threatening shock and was hospitalised for almost 7 days. “Now my reproductive organs are permanently compromised,” she says. Due to her fate and the Supreme Court’s decision, Texas banned the abortion in all conditions. She was caught in a difficult situation. The baby was still breathing inside her uterus, waiting for a welcome. On the other hand, the doctors could not handle her miscarriage. In May 2024, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the ban. It was like a decision that felt like “a slap in the face,” Zurawski remembers. “It felt like they were trying to take away our voices, erase us from history, and silence us.” Amanda made more than a dozen campaign trips to President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris over the course of 2024, warning about the dangers.
Anna Sawai
Japanese-New Zealand-born Japanese actor and singer, recognised for her roles in international cinema and efforts to bring diverse narratives to the forefront. “I want to make sure that the roles that I choose are not going to perpetuate those images that I feel are incorrect, and I want to make sure that they’re very human.” She is the one, at the age of 32, Anna Sawai, who became the first Asian woman to win the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama and also a trophy at the Golden Globes in January. In her opinion, courage is something you require more when you want to put a stop. “You need courage to start something, but you need even more courage to quit,” she says
Laufey
Icelandic-Chinese singer and mastermind bringing jazz traditions to a new generation, celebrated for her contributions to music and culture. Just 25-year-old” Laufey Lin Bing Jonsdottir” (her full name) decided to bring jazz to the world. The story of her inspiration all started from American songwriter, singer, and composer Ella Fitzgerald’s recordings. In her statement, “I used to think that was such a scary thing: that nobody had walked that trail before me,” she says she took a break from recording her upcoming third studio album in New York City. “But I now realise that when you’re the one determining which steps to take next and which branches to pull to the side, that’s when you know you have something good on your hands.” Laufey’s songs earned fans of all ages, but especially Gen Z.
Laura Modi
Co-founder and CEO of Bobbie, working to ensure parents have access to infant formula and advocating for parental support. Her encouragement grew when a male investor scolded her for discouraging women from breastfeeding. “At the base of what’s most important is education. It’s early education. It’s understanding finance, the building blocks,” Santini said. “Planning for the future, thinking about what debt means and how that feels to you emotionally, understanding what debt is right, thinking about retirement, thinking about investing, thinking about where your passions are.”
These women have made significant impacts in their respective fields, from entertainment and sports to activism and public health.
