Bono has been named U.S. Glamour magazine’s first ever Man of the Year. Executives at the American women’s monthly have been honouring females since their Women of the Year awards launched in 1990, and have now decided to include a male prize in their annual ceremony.
Bono was chosen as the first recipient thanks to his charity work, such as poverty and AIDS prevention through his ONE and (RED) organisations, which he co-founded. He is also being recognised for the ONE campaign Poverty is Sexist, a drive aimed at the world’s poorest women.
“I’m grateful for this award as a chance to say the battle for gender equality can’t be won unless men lead it along with women,” he told Glamour. “We’re largely responsible for the problem, so we have to be involved in the solutions.
“We can do much more than we think we can. Leaders are accountable to all of us. If they don’t support women and girls, vote them out of office. To quote Nelson Mandela, ‘It always seems impossible – until it’s done.'”
Editor-in-chief Cindi Leive admitted to WWD.com that although guys don’t really need more award opportunities, it made sense to recognise men who are feminists and are helping achieve gender equality.
“It felt like a missed opportunity,” she explained. “The modern thinking on women’s rights and feminism is, ‘Hey we’re all in this together’… The idea that only women can stand up for women’s issues is a relic of an older time.”
The 2016 Women of the Year honourees include Gwen Stefani, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, actress Zendaya, model Ashley Graham, designer Miuccia Prada, Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, Stanford sexual assault survivor Emily Doe, French politician Christine Lagarde, and anti-ISIS activist Nadia Murad.
They all appear in the December issue of the magazine and will be honoured on 14 November (16) at a ceremony in Los Angeles.