--- description: American Women are some of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: American Women: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7e61f28e2fedd6/698a0af34ee262680231728e/social-1975_American-Women.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1975: American Women Mar 5, 2020 11:38 AM CUT  Designed by Norman Gorbary; Photographs by Dirck Halstead, Neil Leifer, Dennis Brack—Black Star, David Burnett—Pledge, David Hume Kennerly—The White House, Steve Northup, Halstead, Burnett, Art Shay, Bill Pierce, Julian Wasser, John Zimmerman by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:38 AM CUT The cover of TIME’s Jan. 5, 1976, issue was unprecedented. It featured a dozen “Women of the Year” who symbolized the ascending power and status of women in myriad realms: literature, the military, religion, education, the White House, the statehouse, the Cabinet, Congress, sports, law, journalism and labor. Yet the “Person of the Year” TIME was recognizing was less any of them than The American Woman writ large. She was the subject of an 11-page spread that chronicled the average woman’s pursuit of equality at home, at the office, in society. “Enough U.S. women have so deliberately taken possession of their lives,” the cover story read, “that the event is spiritually equivalent to the discovery of a new continent.” Looking back, the strides that justified the selection may seem small, like the fact that 7% of lawyers were women (today it’s 36%) or that there were 18 women in Congress (now 126). But early representation is usually the hardest won. And progress often comes with caveats. In a special section of the historic issue, TIME’s publisher highlighted the work of more than a dozen women who had conducted interviews and research for the project. In the fine print, however, was a fact he did not tout: the ultimate job of writing the cover story had still gone to a man. _–Katy Steinmetz_ --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ American Women: 100 Women of the Year ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793647/american-women-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793647/american-women-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1975: American Women","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:38:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:21:21.253Z","description":"American Women are some of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793647/american-women-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7e61f28e2fedd6/698a0af34ee262680231728e/social-1975_American-Women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b7e61f28e2fedd6/698a0af34ee262680231728e/social-1975_American-Women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1975 American-Women","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793647/american-women-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1975: American Women"}}]}] ```