The 16-year-old educational activist, who caught the world's attention after the Taliban shot her in the head last year, told the audience she believed guns have "no power at all".
A group of young girls in the audience shouted "We love you, Malala!" at the teenager from a balcony in Carnegie Hall, and she was regularly referred to by fellow honourees as they took to the stage.
Lady Gaga, sporting platform heels with frizzy white hair, said she wished the cover of December's issue of Glamour had been devoted to Miss Yousafzai instead of her.
The singer said: "If I could forfeit my Glamour cover I would give it to Malala."
Miss Yousafzai won the women of the year fund initiative to support girls' education globally. She received treatment in the UK after being shot for criticising the Taliban's interpretation of Islam, which limits girls' access to education, and has gone on to speak at the UN in New York.
The evening's lifetime achievement award went to singer Barbra Streisand who spoke about hoping to see a woman one day become US president.
Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the couple of the year award to former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly.
Ms Giffords received a Glamour award in 2011 but was unable to attend the ceremony that year because she was still recovering from wounds suffered during a gun attack in Arizona.
She told the crowd: "It's been a hard, long time but I'm getting better."
Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis, a teacher who saved many of her pupils from gunman Adam Lanza during his massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut, had the audience in tears after receiving her award.
“I have lived my life so as not to let that day define myself - or my students," she said.
Also at the ceremony were supermodel Iman, Lily Collins, and Rose Byrne.
Source: http://news.sky.com
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