Glamour branches out, honors Bono
Glamour’s annual Women of the Year list always takes in a lot of territory, from noteworthy fashionistas and sports heroes to social justice activists and business leaders.
Enter Bono: The first Man of the Year among the magazine’s Women of the Year, all to be honored at a Nov. 14 ceremony in Los Angeles.
“We’ve talked for years about whether to honor a man at Women of the Year, and we’ve always kind of put the kibosh on it,” Cindi Leive, Glamour’s editor-inchief, said in a recent interview. “But ... there are so many men who really are doing wonderful things for women these days. Some men get it, and Bono is one of those guys.” And how’s that? Well, not just by talking the talk and wearing a feminist T-shirt, she said. Instead, the U2 frontman has turned his attention, high-volume voice and presence as an activist squarely on women and girls who need it the most, those in extreme poverty around the world. Last year, Bono and his One campaign launched a “Poverty is Sexist” movement, armed with facts and figures.
Roughly 62 million girls are denied a right to education around the world, according to a One report, and half a billion women can’t read.
“The idea that a man who could select any cause in the world to call his own, or no cause at all, is choosing to work, and not just for one night or at a special event, but consistently — day after day and month after month — on behalf of women is incredibly cool and absolutely deserves applause,” Leive said.