They are leaders and entrepreneurs, activists and trailblazers in our communities. They are women who make a difference every day – in every state.
Introducing USA TODAY’s 2024 Women of the Year, 60 women across the country using their voices and determination to push for change and equality, and even joy.
They inspire us, influence us, and make us laugh. They include women such as director and actress Eva Longoria pushing for accurate portrayals of Latinos, and Nebraska’s Asheli Spivey improving the lives of Black moms. They are 17-year-old Eva Lighthiser of Montana challenging her state to consider how environmental change affects future generations. And they are Tennessee’s Melissa Alexander, Becky Bailey Hansen, Mary Joyce, and Sarah Shoop Neumann, four moms bound together after Nashville’s Covenant School shooting, working to make schools safer.
“Growing up, I didn’t know what a feminist was. Now I see that I was surrounded by them,” she said. “Women who didn’t have the chance to go to school themselves, but who pushed every day for better education, for more equality, for more recognition in the village. Who dedicated themselves to making sure their children’s lives would be better than theirs. Women like my mother who left an unhappy marriage and raised eleven children on her own.”
That doesn’t mean that someone has to abide by the rules in order to create good energy in the world, the four-time Emmy award-winner reminded the crowd.
“What I learned as I grew older, from all of my light-bearing predecessors, is when to fall out of line,” Henson said, citing “Black women leading the way to freedom from the swampy terrains of the south, to women organizing countless movements for equality and our rights.”
Henson was recognized among this year’s TIME Women of the Year for speaking out about her own experiences with pay inequity as indicative of a greater problem in Hollywood. “To my fellow recipients, congratulations. It’s an honor to share this space with you,” she said.
Five outstanding NSW women have been named the recipients of the NSW Women of the Year Awards 2024 at a ceremony held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney this morning.
Thirty-three women and girls have been recognised across 6 award categories, receiving the highest commendation for their contributions to community, industry and society in NSW.
Since 2012, the annual NSW Women of the Year Awards have played a key role in recognising the women and girls whose determination, bravery, skill and passion has inspired their communities and others to achieve great things.
The NSW Women of the Year Awards 2024 is a celebrated event at the heart of NSW Women’s Week, which runs from Monday 4 March to Sunday 10 March and includes International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March.
The award recipients for each of the 6 categories are: