TIMEの今年の人に選ばれた最初の女性は？

下記の記事タイトルのようにメルケル首相が選ばれた折に女性単独では29年ぶりとなるとの説明がなされていますよね。

Angela Merkel Is Time’s Person of the Year—The First Woman to Receive the Honor in 29 Years
DECEMBER 9, 2015 9:57 AM
by PATRICIA GARCIA

じゃあ女性で選ばれた人ってどんな人がいるのという疑問に答えてくれるのが次の記事。

How Many Women Have Been 'TIME's Person of The Year? Angela Merkel Is One Of Only A Few
CLAIRE WARNER
5 days ago LIFESTYLE

1. Wallis Simpson
Year: 1936
Simpson's romance with the Prince of Wales was controversial from the beginning, but especially after Prince Edward became the only monarch in English history to willingly step out of the line of succession — all for the woman he loved. "The news that the King, as King, wanted to marry Mrs. Simpson was the final culmination of a tide of events sweeping the United Kingdom out of its cozy past and into a more or less hectic and 'American' future," TIME wrote. Simpson and her husband lived out the rest of their days in Paris.

Wallis Simpsonという名前を見ただけではピンとこなかったのですが、「王冠を賭けた恋」はあまりにも有名なエピソードですね。辞書では彼女の名前で見出しもたっていました。

（オックスフォード）
Wallis Simpson
(1896-1986) an American woman who became the Duchess of Windsor when she married her third husband, Edward, Duke of Windsor. He had been King Edward VIII but abdicated (= gave up his position as king) in order to marry her because kings were not allowed to marry divorced women. see also abdication crisis

（ロングマン）
Simpson, Wallis
(1896-1986) a US woman, often known simply as Mrs Simpson, who had a relationship with the British king Edward VIII. Because she had already been married twice before, Edward was not allowed to marry her. In 1938, he decided to abdicate (=give up his position as king) so that he could marry her. She then became the Duchess of Windsor.

でもだからと言って、単独で雑誌TIMEの表紙をしかもWoman of the Yearとして飾ったのは驚きです。Why did the magazine choose to honor Wallis Simpson over so many people who changed the course of 20th century history?という疑問に答えてくれるのが下の記事。

1. SHE WAS THE FIRST 'WOMAN OF THE YEAR'
In 1936, Time honored Wallis Simpson's major coup of getting Edward to abdicate his throne by naming her "Woman of the Year," the first time the magazine had ever given its "Man of the Year" award to a woman. She didn't sneak past a field of slackers to get the honor, either; the other finalists included FDR, Mussolini, Eugene O'Neill, Chiang Kai-shek, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Lou Gehrig, Jesse Owens, and Margaret Mitchell.

Why did the magazine choose to honor Wallis Simpson over so many people who changed the course of 20th century history? According to Time, "In the single year 1936 she became the most-talked-about, written-about, headlined and interest-compelling person in the world. In these respects no woman in history has ever equaled Mrs. Simpson, for no press or radio existed to spread the world news they made."

当時はお茶の間でよっぽど話題になったのでしょうね。オックスフォードやロングマンはWallis Simpsonで見出しを立てていましたが、アメリカンヘリテージの方は結婚後の名称で載せています。このあたりの編集の違いが出ていますね。

（アメリカンヘリテージ）
Windsor, Wallis Warfield Duchess of Windsor. 1896-1986.
American woman who married the Duke of Windsor, formerly Edward VIII of England, in 1937. Because Warfield was divorced, Edward was required to abdicate the throne.



（オックスフォード）
abdication crisis
(in British history) a series of events in 1936, following King Edward VIII's decision to marry a divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. It was thought that the British public would not accept a queen who had been divorced, and Edward was advised by the Prime Minister to abdicate (= give up his position as king). The couple were married in France in 1937, and Edward's brother (as George VI) became king in his place.

集団で選ばれた女性を含めてもメルケル首相で8番目。80年を超えるTIMEの歴史を考えると少ないかもしれません。