The six 2018 Time 100 covers this year include four women and just two men.
The Time 100 is the magazine's annual list of whom it considers the most influential people currently. The 2018 list includes a record 45 women and 45 people under the age of 40.
"The Time 100, always a reflection of its moment, looks quite different than in the past," Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal wrote. "Influence increasingly knows no single zip code and no minimum age."
He indicated that the list is neither a "measure of power" nor "a collection of milestones accumulated."
Rather than rely upon its own stable of writers and editors, Time this year called upon a cadre of guest contributors, including former President Barack Obama. He chose to honor those in the under 40 category, specifically the students who organized the March for Our Lives rally following the mass shooting at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“They have the power so often inherent in youth: to see the world anew; to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom,” Obama wrote in his commemoration of student activists Jaclyn Corin, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and Alex Wind. "The power to insist that America can be better."
Among the women honored are two other activists: Tarana Burke, who started the “Me Too” movement for sexual assault victims; and Nice Nailantei Leng’ete, a strong Kenyan voice against female genital mutilation.
"While we remain much too far from gender parity in global leadership, there are more women than ever on this year’s Time 100 — proof that there are ways of changing the world beyond traditional power structures," Felsenthal wrote.
Four of the six featured on the magazine’s special issue cover page will be women: Burke; comedian and actor Tiffany Haddish; actor Nicole Kidman; and singer Jennifer Lopez. The lone males are Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and tennis champion Roger Federer.
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