Women have always played a great role at work, in families, or in businesses. There is no doubt that the power of women is uncountable. However, they need to be motivated, praised, and inspired further to achieve success in any field.
Here is the list of the Top 10 most powerful women in the world as per Forbes Magazines.
1. ANGELA MERKEL
Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany in the year 2005. Now, she is serving her fourth term. She stepped in as a leader of the Christian Democratic Union in November 2018. Angela Merkel has been leading the region’s largest economy. She brought various changes when Germany went through a financial crisis. Merkel even stood up to Donald Trump and allowed more than a million Syrian refugees into Germany. Angela Merkel is undoubtedly one of the world’s most powerful women of the present.
2. CHRISTINE LAGARDE
Christine Lagarde is known as the President of the Europe Central Bank. She got this opportunity as the very first woman on November 1, 2019. She faced many different problems during a time of geopolitical uncertainty. This even slowed the economic growth in the region. In her speech, she spoke of the need to focus on multilateral trade. She also emphasized how domestic opportunities are essential for the overall growth and survival of the country.
3. NANCY PELOSI
She is the 52nd Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America. This makes her the highest-ranking elected woman in the country. In 2019, she also initiated the impeachment proceedings in U.S. history against President Donald Trump. She was included in the National Women’s Hall of Fame at a ceremony in 2013.
4. URSULA VON DER LEYEN
She was appointed as the president of the European Commission in July 2019. This is the executive branch of the European Union. She is the first woman who is taking this role. Leyen is responsible for legislation affecting more than 700 million Europeans. The lady was Germany’s defence minister for the last six years of her time. Under Ursula, the commission is comprised of 11 female and 15 male commissioners.
5. MARY BARRA
Mary Barra is recognized as the CEO of General Motors. Barra has invested billions in electric vehicles after she became CEO in 2014. In 2018, her company earned $21.9 million. This shows the highest compensation of any other leader in the industry. General Motors ranked No.1 on the 2018 Global Report on Gender Equality due to a lack of a gender pay gap. In this age where women are speaking up for themselves against harassment and the pay gap, Mary Barra is indeed among the world’s most powerful women.
6. MELINDA GATES
She is the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Mrs Melinda Gates has been maintaining a very strong position in philanthropy. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private charitable foundation in the world. It was founded in the year 2000. She is more active in shaping foundation strategy, solving tough global challenges, and many more.
7. ABIGAIL JOHNSON
She is the CEO of Fidelity Investments. Abigail has served in this position since 2014. She took her father’s place. Johnson has embraced cryptocurrencies. In 2018 her company launched a platform that allowed investors to trade bitcoin.
8. ANA PATRICIA BOTIN
She is the executive chairman of Santander. Ana Patricia Botin came into this role in 2014 after the sudden demise of her father. Ana focused on entrepreneurs, backing small enterprises and women-owned businesses. She protected her company from failing Banco Popular (BP) for 1 euro to become Spain’s largest bank. She conducted and initiated various programs to support university entrepreneurship. Ana also helped to create the country’s first multi-sector blockchain-based platform.
9. GINNI ROMETTY
She is the CEO of the iconic tech company IBM (International Business Machine). She is the 36-year-old powerful lady who has led IBM’s transition to a data company. Today, amazingly, half of the revenue of IBM comes from the software products and high-value segments of IT. She has succeeded in doing so by putting cognitive computing at the center of its strategy. The lady has made massive bets on blockchain and quantum computing.
10. MARILLYN HEWSON
She is the CEO of Lockheed Martin. She has been working in the defence company’s position at the forefront of security, aerospace, and technology. The development programs for the modern military needs have helped increase market value to nearly $ 100 billion. The company pulled in nearly $53 billion in sales in 2017. This was pulled from a majority of the U.S. government. Lockheed’s stock has surged more than 300% under Hewson’s watch.
Have you ever felt like women are growing in most of the sectors such as business, politics, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy? A very true because of globalization, changing dynamics, technology, norms, values, etc.