The BBC has revealed the names of the trailblazing women on this year’s 100 Women List, celebrating inspirational women across the globe – from high profile names to unsung heroes.
The women featured on this year’s list include those at the top of their careers across finance, politics, law, sport, charity, science and the arts, as well activists, campaigners and those who have responded to extraordinary challenges in their own lives by making real change in the world around them.
Ranging in age from 15 to 94, women from more than 60 countries are featured on the list, including for the first time women from Belize, Cuba, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Laos and Namibia.
Some of the most recognisable names on the list include Stacey Cunningham, President of the New York Stock Exchange; Chilean writer Isabel Allende; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN; and Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia. In-depth ‘Big Interviews’ with them will air on BBC World News as part of the BBC’s 100 Women season, with a selection also airing on BBC World Service .
Other names on the list include,Vicky Phelan, an Educational Manager from Ireland, she exposed the CervicalCheck Screening scandal in Ireland, after finding out she was given the wrong smear test results.
Prosecutor Ana Graciela Sagastume López from El Salvador . She was appointed head of a unit investigating cases of femicide in 2016 and early this year was named El Salvador’s Women and Femicide Special Prosecutor.
Secretary General of FIFA Fatma Samoura from Senegal. The first woman and first African to hold the position and Physicist Donna Strickland,Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo in Canada and one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018.
British actor, broadcaster, activist and writer Jameela Jamil,who is currently stars in The Good Place and earlier this year launched a movement and social media platform @i_Weigh, which calls on her followers to post what they feel proud of, encouraging women to feel valuable and “look beyond the flesh on their bones”.
Namibian Ophthalmologist Helena Ndume who has performed sight-restoring surgeries on 35,000 Namibians, free of charge and Student Nujeen Mustafa ,who fled the war in Syria, crossing thousands of miles in her wheelchair and she now campaigns on behalf of refugees with disabilities.
Indian farmer Rahibi Soma Popere , the Founder of the ‘Seed Bank’, she pioneered a movement to preserve indigenous seeds, boosting agriculture in her tribal community in west India and Actor Noma Dumezweni Born in eSwatini, previously known as Swaziland, she is the first woman to play the adult version of Herminone Granger on stage in the West End and on Broadway.
Student and swimmer Haven Shepherd.Born in Vietnam and now living in the US, Haven is a Paralympic hopeful, having survived after her birth parents committed suicide by detonating an explosive.
Chelsea Clinton Author of numerous books and Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, where she works on initiatives including those that help to empower the next generation of leaders and Chinese singer-songwriter G.E.M.. A top-selling musician who uses her influence to support charities and organisations dedicated to music, education and tackling poverty.
Former spy and charity founder Helen Taylor Thompson who was part of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s ‘secret army’, sending coded messages to spies during World War II. She went on to set up Europe’s first Aids hospice.
British Blogger Chidera Eggerue. also Best-selling author and activist behind the social media movement #saggyboobsmatter, driving new conversations about perceptions of women’s bodies and South African model, lawyer and activist Thando Hopa ,a diversity and inclusion advocate.
The Russian model Svetlana Alekseeva who survived a fire that burned almost half her body and now works to help people with scars to have body positivity and Peruvian Lawyer Cindy Arlette Contreras Bautista who has become the face of the NiUnoMenos movement against domestic violence in Peru after a video of her being attacked by her boyfriend went viral.
Social worker Elena Gorolova from the Roma community in the Czech Republic. She campaigns against forced sterilisation and works to return institutionalised children to their birth families.
