U2 frontman Bono has been selected as the first-ever man to make Glamour magazine’s prestigious “Women of the Year” list.
The 56-year-old singer was recognized by the magazine for his One Foundation’s “Poverty is Sexist” campaign, which aims to help the world’s poorest women by advocating for increased educational opportunities and access to better healthcare.
“I’m sure I don’t deserve it. But 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,” Bono told the magazine upon learning of being honored. “We’re largely responsible for the problem, so we have to be involved in the solutions.”
In a post for Glamour announcing Bono’s award, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, herself one of the magazine’s Women of the Year in 2005, writes that what she admires most about the Irish singer is his “extraordinary talent for tackling problems that seem intractable—and making mighty and measurable gains.”
“It’s not every superstar (or, for that matter, statesman) who can bring about $100 billion in debt cancellation for 35 of the world’s poorest countries, or persuade the U.S. government to pony up the largest contribution ever for lifesaving AIDS drugs in Africa, as President George W. Bush did in 2004,” Amanpour wrote.
This year’s other Women of the Year winners include gold medal Olympian Simone Biles, singer Gwen Stefani, actress Zendaya Coleman, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, ISIS kidnap survivor Nadia Murad, model Ashley Graham, Black Lives Matter activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, fashion designer Miuccia Prada and Emily Doe, the woman sexually assaulted by Stanford University student Brock Turner who wrote a widely-read essay about the experience earlier this year.
Bono told Glamour that men “can do much more than we think we can” to push for women’s rights and opportunity.
“Men can be a bit thick. And I include myself,” he said. “Honestly, things that ought to be obvious sometimes are not.”
Glamour‘s Women of the Year will be honored at a November 14 ceremony in Los Angeles.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum