Time just launched a new editorial project: “Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World,” aimed at profiling women who are making a difference all over the world. But instead of choosing its subjects, Time solicited candidates, asking for examples of women and girls whose presence “in the highest reaches of success says to her that it is safe to climb, come on up, the view is spectacular.”
Breaking the glass ceiling is a term that almost every woman will hear at some point in their lives. The goal of Time’s “Firsts” is to highlight those women who empower others and inspire them to shatter other invisible gender barriers in our society.
Below are some of the women who inspire and move others.
Selena Gomez
The first person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram, Gomez told Time that she’s always loved being able to make people laugh. When she started her career at a young age, her mom, who was only 16 when Gomez was born, was “the person in (her) life who helped guide (her).” Her mom gave her the ability to feel like she was capable of doing everything she wanted. Gomez says that strength is being vulnerable.
Madeleine Albright
Albright is the first woman to become U.S. Secretary of State. She said to Time she never thought she’d be in that position, even though she was often the only woman in the room during political discussions of foreign policy, but the turning point did come. “I love being a woman,” she says. “Our life comes in segments, which allows us to have different parts of life.”
Kellyanne Conway
Conway is the first woman to run a winning presidential campaign. She was always curious as a young girl she said to Time, and always had a real facility for numbers and facts and figures. She went into Republican polling and quickly noticed her gender was an immediate source of curiosity. Her comfort level came in learning to “think like a man and to behave like a lady.”
Danica Patrick
Patrick is the first woman to lead in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. She started racing Indy cars at 23-years-old. She moved to England when she was 16, which she said to Time was a “crash-course in how to protect yourself” because she was out of the house with no parents around. She had to learn to speak confidently in the male-dominated world of racing. She was told something early on that always stuck with her: “Don’t go into a meeting and tell them, ‘I think …’ Say, ‘I know …’ You’ve got to be sure of yourself.”
Aretha Franklin
Franklin is the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has won 18 Grammys. She told Time she never thought her songs would become anthems for women, but she is “delighted.” Franklin said that we can all learn a little something from each other. She said that while women have done well in the music industry, the men still run the major labels. Franklin said she doesn’t think women need to do anything differently than what they’re doing right now: “moving forward, moving to the forefront, moving into the executive offices, moving into the areas that men have held captive.”
Ellen DeGeneres
DeGeneres is the first person to star as an openly gay character on prime-time TV. She is also an Emmy-winning TV host and comedian. She told Time that she didn’t come into her own power and understanding of who she is until the last 10 years. She was shy and insecure, but kept doing comedy out of love. She said she wouldn’t change anything in her life, including how she came out, because they made her who she is, and made her a more compassionate person. When she decided to come out both in character and in real life on her sitcom, she says she was warned not to by her publicist, by Disney, by everybody. But she said “there’s nothing better than realizing that everybody knows exactly who I am.”
Oprah Winfrey
Winfrey is the first woman to own and produce her own talk show. Winfrey said to Time that she has made every single choice about her career based on her gut. She said it is “essential that, in life, you see yourself reflected in other people’s stories.” When she was growing up, there were no African-American people on billboards or on TV or in the media. One of the reasons she wanted to do her show was because she wanted to show that no matter where you are in life, you are not alone.
Janet Yellen
Yellen is the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve. She has been an economist for over 40 years. She said to Time that women and minority economists are still underrepresented, but she hopes that women who follow her career path will have the same opportunities that she had.
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Schori is the first woman to be elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. She told Time that the Bible says many things about women’s roles, so most people “cherry-pick” to suit their beliefs. She also told Time that if there is opposition, it means they are noticing something has changed, or that there is a difference. That is the beginning of the conversation, if people are willing to engage. “Engendering opposition is a sign of being effective,” she said.
Serena Williams
Williams is the first tennis player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era. Williams told Time that she wouldn’t be who she is today if it wasn’t for her sister, Venus. She also said it isn’t always easy to be on the world stage and have people comment on your body, but she said once you have a “wall of confidence,” the criticism will hit it and bounce right off. She also told Time the world of tennis has come such a long way, and has had many pioneers, like Billie Jean King, who have put women in position to demand equal pay, equal prize money, and equal center court appearances. But there are still steps to take, and it is important to give young black girls and young women of all races someone to look up to.
View “Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World” on Time’s website.
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