German Chancellor remains world's most powerful woman
German Chancellor Angela Merkel retains the top spot in Forbes Magazine's 2016 list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
She has retained the top spot for the sixth consecutive year and eleven times in total.
She is followed by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (No. 2), US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (No. 3.), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair, Melinda Gates, (No. 4) and General Motors CEO Mary Barra who remains in the No. 5 spot.
No woman from Thailand or Malaysia is on the list. From Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi is No.70. Ho Ching, chief executive officer of Temasek, the Singapore government's investment firm which sits on assets worth over US$100 billion, comes in the 30th place.
Among the twenty newcomers on this year’s list are CEO, Lens Technology Zhou Qunfei; President, Taiwan Tsai Ing-Wen (No.17) and Editor-in-Chief, The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes (No. 78). Notable drop-offs include Elizabeth Holmes, founder & CEO, Theranos and Dilma Rousseff, 36th President, Brazil.
The United States represents 51 women on the list, followed by China in a distant second with 9 women on the list, China’s highest showing since the list’s inception. This year’s Power Women control nearly $1 trillion in revenues. Forbes uses four metrics to determine this list: money (personal fortune, company sales, national GDP); media presence; influence exerted across multiple spheres; and success at implementing change within one’s organization, company or country.
Nearly a third of the women on this year’s list lead a nation or play a pivotal role in calling the shots in their country. Together, this elite group governs or directly influences more than 3.6 billion people. The 100 most powerful women represent seven categories or power bases: billionaires, business, finance, media, politics, philanthropists and NGOs, and technology. The entertainment category has been removed this year, making room for a wider inclusion of female leaders across the globe who have been elected to office. The 2016 ranking includes several recently elected female leaders, evidence of the growing number of women who are winning national elections in countries around the world, including Taiwan, Nepal, Croatia, and Scotland.
