The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

The Women Who Matter Most

They are politicians, CEOs, bankers, cultural icons, billionaires and entrepreneurs. A fresh look at power as reach and influence.

Rank	Name	Age	Country	Category
1	Angela Merkel Chancellor	57	Germany	Politics
2	Hillary Clinton Secretary of State	64	United States	Politics
3	Dilma Rousseff President	64	Brazil	Politics
4	Indra Nooyi Chief Executive, PepsiCo	56	United States	Business
5	Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook	42	United States	Business
6	Melinda Gates Cofounder, Cochair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	47	United States	Non-Profit
7	Sonia Gandhi President	65	India	Politics
8	Michelle Obama First Lady	48	United States	Politics
9	Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund	56	France	Non-Profit
10	Irene Rosenfeld CEO, Kraft Foods	58	United States	Business
11	Lady Gaga Entertainer	25	United States	Celebrity/Lifestyle
12	Jill Abramson Executive Editor, NY Times	57	United States	Media
13	Kathleen Sebelius Secretary of Health and Human Services	63	United States	Politics
14	Oprah Winfrey Media Personality	58	United States	Media
15	Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security	54	United States	Politics
16	Susan Wojcicki SVP, Advertising, Google	43	United States	Business
17	Cristina Fernandez President	58	Argentina	Politics
18	Beyoncé Knowles Entertainer, Designer	30	United States	Celebrity/Lifestyle
19	Georgina Rinehart Mining Tycoon	57	Australia	Billionaire
20	Cher Wang Cofounder, Chair, HTC; VIA Technologies	53	Taiwan	Business
21	Margaret Hamburg Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration	56	United States	Politics
22	Michele Bachmann Presidential Candidate	55	United States	Politics
23	Julia Gillard Prime Minister	50	Australia	Politics
24	Mary Schapiro Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission	56	United States	Politics
25	Anne Sweeney Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks; President, Disney-ABC Television Group	54	United States	Business
26	Aung San Suu Kyi General Secretary, National League For Democracy	66	Burma	Politics
27	Ursula Burns CEO, Xerox	53	United States	Business
28	Amy Pascal Co-Chair, Sony Pictures	53	United States	Business
29	Angelina Jolie Actress, Humanitarian	36	United States	Celebrity/Lifestyle
30	Josette Sheeran Executive Director, UN World Food Programme	57	United States	Non-Profit
31	Arianna Huffington Editor-In-Chief, AOL Huffington Post Media Group	61	United States	Media
32	Gail Kelly CEO, Westpac Group	55	Australia	Business
33	Chan Laiwa & family Chair, Fu Wah International Group	71	China	Billionaire
34	Sarah Palin Political Commentator	47	United States	Celebrity/Lifestyle
35	Cynthia Carroll CEO, Anglo American	55	United States	Business
36	Helene Gayle CEO, CARE USA	57	United States	Non-Profit
37	Carol Bartz CEO, Yahoo!	63	United States	Business
38	Ellen Kullman CEO, Dupont	56	United States	Business
39	Jin Sook Chang Cofounder, Chief Merchandising Officer, Forever 21	49	United States	Business
40	Safra Catz President, Oracle	50	United States	Business
41	Angela Braly CEO, Wellpoint	50	United States	Business
42	Marissa Mayer VP, Local, Maps & Location Services, Google	36	United States	Business
43	Chanda Kochhar CEO, ICICI Bank	50	India	Business
44	Christiane Amanpour News Achor, This Week	54	United States	Media
45	Patricia Woertz CEO, Archer Daniels Midland	58	United States	Business
46	Lynn Laverty Elsenhans CEO, Sunoco	55	United States	Business
47	Diane Sawyer News Anchor, World News	66	United States	Media
48	Zhang Xin & family Cofounder, CEO, SOHO China	46	China	Business
49	Queen Elizabeth II Monarch	85	United Kingdom	Politics
50	Helen Clark Administrator, UN Development Programme	61	New Zealand	Non-Profit
51	Helen Boaden Director, BBC News Group	55	United Kingdom	Media
52	Nancy Pelosi Democratic Leader, House of Representatives	71	United States	Politics
53	Queen Rania Al Abdullah Monarch	41	Jordan	Politics
54	Bonnie Hammer Chairman, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios, NBCU	62	United States	Business
55	Ellen DeGeneres Talk Show Host	54	United States	Celebrity/Lifestyle
56	Katie Jacobs Stanton VP, International Strategy, Twitter	42	United States	Business
57	Shari Arison Heiress, Philanthropist	54	Israel	Billionaire
58	Angela Ahrendts CEO, Burberry	51	United States	Business
59	Yingluck Shinawatra Prime Minister	44	Thailand	Politics
60	Gisele Bündchen Supermodel, Environmentalist	31	Brazil	Celebrity/Lifestyle
61	Joanne (J.K.) Rowling Author	46	United Kingdom	Celebrity/Lifestyle
62	Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President	73	Liberia	Politics
63	Lubna S. Olayan CEO, Olayan Financing Company	56	Saudi Arabia	Business
64	Andrea Jung CEO, Avon	53	United States	Business
65	Sri Mulyani Indrawati Managing Director, World Bank	49	Indonesia	Non-Profit
66	Ann Curry Coanchor, TODAY show	55	United States	Media
67	Sallie Krawcheck President, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Bank of America	47	United States	Business
68	Margaret Chan Director-General, World Health Organization	64	China	Non-Profit
69	Anna Wintour Editor-in-Chief, Vogue	62	United States	Media
70	Abigail Johnson President, Fidelity Investments	50	United States	Business
71	Judith Rodin President, The Rockefeller Foundation	67	United States	Non-Profit
72	Ho Ching CEO, Temasek Holdings	59	Singapore	Business
73	Carol Meyrowitz CEO, TJX Companies	57	United States	Business
74	Mary Callahan Erdoes CEO, J.P. Morgan Asset Management	44	United States	Business
75	Greta Van Susteren Host, On the Record	57	United States	Media
76	Mary Barra SVP, Global Product Development, General Motors	50	United States	Business
77	Ana Patricia Botin CEO, Santander UK	51	Spain	Business
78	Guler Sabanci & family Chair, Sabanci Holding	57	Turkey	Business
79	Miuccia Prada Chair, Head Designer, Prada Group	62	Italy	Business
80	Denise Morrison CEO, Campbell Soup Company	58	United States	Business
81	Tina Brown Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Beast, Newsweek	58	United States	Media
82	Virginia Rometty SVP, Group Executive Sales, Marketing and Strategy , IBM	54	United States	Business
83	Drew Gilpin Faust President, Harvard University	64	United States	Non-Profit
84	Sheri McCoy Vice Chair Executive Committee, Johnson & Johnson	53	United States	Business
85	Alice Walton Heiress, Art Patron	62	United States	Billionaire
86	Laura Chinchilla President	52	Costa Rica	Politics
87	Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Finance Minister	57	Nigeria	Politics
88	Sue Naegle President, HBO Entertainment	42	United States	Business
89	Mindy Grossman CEO, HSN	54	United States	Business
90	Ruth Porat CFO, Morgan Stanley	54	United States	Business
91	Diane Von Furstenberg CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg Studio	65	United States	Business
92	Jan Fields President, McDonald’s USA	56	United States	Business
93	Maria Ramos Group CEO, Absa Group Banks	52	South Africa	Business
94	Marjorie Scardino CEO, Pearson	65	United States	Business
95	Risa Lavizzo-Mourey CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation	57	United States	Non-Profit
96	Beth Mooney CEO, KeyCorp	57	United States	Business
97	Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita CEO, ArcelorMittal South Africa	52	South Africa	Business
98	Dominique Senequier CEO, AXA Private Equity	58	France	Business
99	Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Founder, Chair, Biocon	58	India	Business
100	Beth Brooke Global Vice Chair, Ernst & Young	52	United States	Business

Source: Forbes

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Richard Daniels

Creative Director at Dadycandoit.Com

Richard Daniels is a technology enthusiast, a veteran web developer & IT Consultant based in Ghana. Work @ Dadycandoit.Com, a firm providing big-time exposure for small-businesses to re-energize their results. We support our clients with a variety of services, including online marketing and creating interactive, modern, eye-catching websites which best suits their needs and target audience. We offer real solutions. If you have a project you think we can assist you with, please contact us on +233244911824 or email: [email protected]

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By Richard Daniels on February 8, 2012   /   Politics, World   /   7 Comments

Tags: Celebrity, christine lagarde, clinton secretary of state, Cofounder, dilma rousseff, Disney, Entertainer, Food, Group, international monetary fund, irene rosenfeld, kathleen sebelius, Matter, melinda gates foundation, michelle obama, Secretary, sonia gandhi, susan wojcicki, women

7 Comments

1. 

   Anneliz

   1:44 am on March 4, 2012

   This is one impressive website…so easy to maneuver! Congrats, the best I have seen today.

   Reply
2. 

   Regina Vic Mintah

   10:08 pm on March 4, 2012

   The women are all from the G-20 States. There are other powerful and renowed women in Africa too. for example the first female of Liberia President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson.Or did I miss that? If not then include her please.I am sure there are others in other countries too. Will keep eraching Bye

   Reply
   • 

     Richard Daniels

     4:00 pm on March 6, 2012

     So many factors determines the rank… The fact that she is a political head does not mean she she should be included among the most powerful. Liberia itself does not have much influence even in it corner of West Africa. We are talking globally here, economy size, finance, population, resources etc that can affect the world in general. When you are borrowing all the time and unable to pay your debts talk less of even feeding tiny half of your population how on Earth do you want to be included as one of the most powerful?

     Reply
3. 

   arash

   12:28 pm on March 6, 2012

   propaganda for US?

   very misleading and unreliable

   Reply
   • 

     Richard Daniels

     3:35 pm on March 6, 2012

     You think so? Unfortunate we do not do any propaganda here at dadycandoit.com… we say it as its. This a proudly Ghanaian website purposely for website designing and sharing personal/general views on issues around us not a political tool. Thanks anyway for sharing your views.

     Reply
     • 

       Sophia Tlali

       2:47 pm on March 9, 2012

       I have enjoyed knowing who is who in the world and I believe the assessment is professional. I would like to do a similar profile of most powerful women in my country and need a criteria to use for the profiling. I know finance is important but not many will tell one how much they make like its such a personal question to ask one. So what indicators do I look for? I am a gender activist. Thanks for your reply. I did not see Sirleaf and I respect her.

       Reply
4. 

   white man

   6:08 am on November 12, 2012

   If the celebrity is alive, do we need every bit of information about their life to be our public knowledge?

   If the celebrity is dead, would it be more appropriate to have a moment of silence in order to honor their death?

   Reply