The BBC has released its 2024 list of the world’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. Notably, the list includes two women from Central Asia — one from Kyrgyzstan and one from Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, no women from Kazakhstan were featured. Kursiv LifeStyle highlights some of the most remarkable women recognized this year.
As the compilers of the list note, 2024 has been a particularly challenging year for women in many parts of the world.
«The theme of the 2024 list is ‘resilience,’ and BBC 100 Women acknowledges the toll this year has taken on women around the world by celebrating those who — through their resilience — are forging new lives and changing futures as the world changes around them. BBC 100 Women remains committed to exploring the impact of the climate emergency, highlighting women who are working to tackle the very real impact of climate change across the globe,» they wrote.
This year’s list features Dilorom Yuldosheva, a seamstress and businesswoman from Uzbekistan, and Zhanylsynzat Turganbaeva, a museum manager from Kyrgyzstan.
In 2022, Dilorom Yuldosheva lost both legs in a harvesting accident. However, that did not stop her from dreaming big. She decided to start her own sewing business, learning the basics of entrepreneurship and resource management. She later trained more than 40 apprentices. Within months, her company grew significantly, offering free workshops and securing contracts to produce uniforms for workers and schoolchildren.
«Her business has since become a source of income for her and dozens of other women,» the BBC noted.
Zhanylsynzat Turganbaeva has dedicated her life to preserving and revitalizing Kyrgyzstan’s cultural heritage. She manages the ethnographic museum in Bishkek, which features unique national artifacts. Additionally, her philanthropic work focuses on the preservation of Kyrgyz literature, including the famous “Epic of Manas.” One version of this UNESCO-listed monumental poem consists of about 500,000 lines of verse and is arguably the longest epic in the world — 20 times longer than Homer’s “Odyssey.”
«Turganbaeva’s work creates opportunities and resources for ‘manaschis,’ storytellers who recite this Kyrgyz classic,» the BBC wrote.
The BBC 100 Women 2024 list also includes two human rights activists from Russia: Svetlana Anokhina and Lilia Chanysheva. Anokhina has spent years helping victims of domestic violence escape the North Caucasus region of Russia. In 2020, she and other volunteers launched the Marem project to assist women in need.
Chanysheva previously led the office of late opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the Russian region of Bashkortostan. In 2021, she was arrested on extremism charges and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. However, in August 2024, Chanysheva was released as part of a large international prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S.
Other honorees on the list include British visual artist Tracey Emin, Pakistani singer Hadiqa Kiani, Afghan composer Elaha Soroor, American actress Sharon Stone, Paris Olympic shooting medalist Kim Yeji, New Zealand MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Ukrainian farmer Olga Olefirenko and many others. They were recognized for their contributions to sports, culture, art and international humanitarian cooperation.
