TIME's 2024 Women of the Year list features 12 world leaders in various fields

Extraordinary leaders make the world a better place to live in.

TIME released its 2024 Women of the Year list, which features 12 trailblazers in various fields. These women are being celebrated for their commitments to their passions, in areas that include the environment, human rights, peace, equality and much more.

Here, we take a look at these 12 women featured on TIME's 2024 Women of the Year list and their impacts on society:

Greta Gerwig

Gerwig, 40, is an actress, writer and director, most recently admired for being the head filmmaker for the fantasy-comedy "Barbie." Gerwig, who was on the TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018, has a knack for creating storylines that are inclusive and portray diverse representations of women in cinema. She is known for her "humane, emotional, playful" filmmaking. The 2024 Women of the Year issue features a worldwide cover highlighting Gerwig along with an in-depth interview.

Taraji P. Henson

Henson, 53, is an actress known for her electric personality and extensive career in television. She was named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2016 and has been candid about her feelings towards inequality in the industry as a Black woman, which includes "lowball offers" for roles in Hollywood.

Coco Gauff

Gauff, 19, is a professional tennis player who is captivating the hearts of fans around the world one match at a time. The 2023 U.S. Open champion has actively used her platform to promote numerous social justice initiatives, such as Black Lives Matter, gender equity and climate change activism.

Leena Nair

Nair, 54, the global CEO of Chanel, wants to pioneer leadership that is a bit different. She wants to celebrate "compassion, empathy and kindness" by believing in "collective voice, in diverse perspectives." Nair is known for her contribution in human resources and her remarkable expertise in transforming global organizations.

Claudia Goldin

Goldin, 77, is an economic historian and labor economist known for becoming the third woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in economics -- and the first to win it on her own. She is dedicated to studying women and work, finding ways to help women balance career and family, the ongoing gender wage gap and the influence of the birth control bill on women.

Yael Admi and Reem Hajajreh

Admi is the co-founder and leader of the Israeli movement Women Wage Peace and Hajajreh is the director of the Palestinian organization Women of the Sun. The two have an alliance, representing two different peace organizations but work together to look for ways to end the "cycle of bloodshed" taking over their communities. While neither advocate for a particular political solution, both organizations believe that a peaceful resolution is vital.

Ada Limón

Limón, 47, was named the 24th poet Laureate of the U.S. by the Librarian of Congress and the first Latina to earn this honor. Limón is set to embark on a tour across the country to unveil poetry in seven national parks as part of her program called You Are Here. Limón's main drive for this project is "the solitary experience of writing" that comes her way when she puts pen to paper.

Andra Day

Day, 39, is an R&B and soul singer known for her efforts in pivoting invitations to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” into an opportunity to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing." The "Rise Up" singer performed the Black national anthem at Super Bow LVIII. Day has been experimenting with a new album since 2017 and hopes to sing about her experiences this time around.

Nadia Murad

Murad, 30, is a Yazdi human rights activist from Germany. She was kidnapped in her hometown of Kocho in 2014 and held there for three months. Nadia's Initiative was created to "help women and children victimized by genocides, mass atrocities, and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities." The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner was a lead plaintiff in December in a lawsuit filed to advocate for approximately 400 Yazidi Americans.

Jacqui Patterson

Patterson is the founder and executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership. She believes environmental issues, poverty, racial discrimination and gender inequality all coincide. “The communities that don’t have other nonprofit organizations working within them are the communities most at climate risk,” Patterson said.

Marlena Fejzo

Jejzo, 56, is a geneticist who studies hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a condition that leads to excessive nausea and vomiting in up to 3% of pregnancies. After suffering from HG in her pregnancy and dealing with a doctor who downplayed the situation, Fejzo knew she wanted to help others dealing with the disease but “didn’t have the energy to fight.” Fejzo serves on the board of Hyperemesis Education & Research Foundation and is the chief scientific officer at a women’s health company called Harmonia Healthcare, which plans to open an HG-focused treatment center in the Northeast.