Top 10 Most Powerful Women in the World 2013

It’s been just a few days after International Women’s day and we already have an article dedicated to Women power. Women! The fairer sex or as some call them the weaker sex are one of the most beautiful creation of god. Ever though why do we refer all the beautiful creations of god as feminine? Why mother nature?  Why is a river referred as she and not he? That is because beauty equals womanhood. But then again there are misogynists and patriarchs who have always made an effort to subdue the opposite sex. What is it that makes them so insecure of women? Is it their ego or is it some deep rooted mindset. It is quite difficult to get to the crux of the problem as this is an international problem. Everywhere you see, the virility of stubborn and arrogant men waylays women. But till when you can keep them from having that respect they deserve and power they can have. So this article is homage to all those women who have the balls in their courts or are struggling to turn the circumstances in their favor, and women who control the world.

Take a look at these 10 most powerful women in the world.

10. Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Kara Sandberg is the 10^th most powerful woman in the world, at the age of 43. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook since 2008. In June 2012, she was elected by board of directors thus becoming Facebook’s first female board member and also owns around $1 billion  stock of the company. The US citizen is a graduate from Harvard College with an A.B. in economics for which she was awarded with John h. William prize. She also has an MBA from Harvard Business School with a distinction. Previous to Facebook, she has worked with Google as its vice president of Global Online sales and operations. She also had a hand in launching Google.org. Prior to Google, she worked at United Stated Department of Treasury as its chief of staff.

9. Janet Napolitano

The 9^th most powerful woman in the world serves as Secretary to United Nations Homeland Security and the only female to hold this  post. The Democrat joined office in 2009 and now serves in the administration of President Barack Obama. She took over this post after serving as a governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009. The third female governor of Arizona is now at the top  of third largest Department in US politics. Prior to serving as a governor, she served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1999 to 2002. In March 2009, she received the Council on Litigation Management’s Professionalism Award for her unique abilities to lead in the highest order of her profession. She also battled with cancer and later credited her friends and family for standing up for her while she was battling cancer.

8. Christine Lagarde

The 57 year old woman has been ranked 8^th most powerful woman by Forbes magazine. Christine Lagarde is the Managing Director at International Monetary Fund since July 2011. The French national is the first woman to run the 188 country financial organization. She is a well known antitrust and labor lawyer and became the first chairperson of international law firm- Baker and McKenzie. Previous to working for IMF, she has held various positions in French government such as Minister of Economic Affairs and Minister of Trade among other posts she has held. She is also the first woman to become the Finance Minister of a G8 economy, as well as first woman to head IMF. In November 2009, she was ranked the best Minister of Finance in Eurozone by Financial Times. she definitely has a lot of honors for being the first everywhere.

7. Michelle Obama

She is the first Afro- American First Lady of the United States. Michelle Obama is the wife of 44th president of the US- Barack Obama. She is a graduate from Princeton University and Harvard Law College and then worked with a law firm- Sidley Austin where she first met Barack Obama. She then worked for Chicago mayor Richard m. Daley and for the University of Chicago Medical Centre. During 2007 she helped campaign for her husband’s presidential campaign and played a vital role in the re-election too. She was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Her popularity is more than her husband’s probably because of her stylish fashion picks and  mission to end child obesity and focusing on healthy eating habits.

6. Sonia Gandhi

The only Indian woman to feature in a list full of American women. She was ranked as the 6^th most powerful woman by Forbes magazine. She is an Italian born Indian politician who is the president of Indian National Congress since 1998. The head of ruling political party in India holds the control of world’s tenth largest economy. She is the widow of former prime minister of India-Rajiv Gandhi. After her husband’s assassination in 1991, she was offered to join the party but she refused and publicly stayed away from politics. She was finally elected as the president of Congress in 1998. She has also served as the chairperson of UPA in Lok Sabha since 2004. She is also the longest serving president in the history of Congress party.

5. Jill Abramson

She is first woman to head a 161 year old publication and the 5^th most powerful woman ranked by Forbes. The executive editor of New York Times has completely transformed it by shuffling senior editorial staff and bringing in digital transformation. She has a B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University. While in college, she worked as the Arts Editor of The Harvard Independent. She later worked for Time magazine from 1973 to 1976. For next ten years she worked as a reporter for The American Lawyer and was later appointed as editor in chief of Legal Times.

4. Melinda Gates

The American  philanthropist is the 4^thmost powerful woman and wife of Bill gates whom she met while working at Microsoft. She has a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University and  she heads World’s most generous and wealthiest organization. Shortly after graduating, she worked for Microsoft in development of its multimedia products such as Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Expedia and Encarta. She recently hit headlines for challenging Vatican to reverse its stance against birth control. The Catholic lady donated $650 million to improvement in accessing contraception in poor countries. she is also the co founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

3. Dilma Rousseff

The third most powerful lady in the world is the president of World’s 6^th largest economy which is Brazil. She is 36^thpresident of Brazil and only woman to hold office.  From 2005 to 2010 she served as chief of staff under former president. She was a socialist during her youth and after 1964 coupe she joined left wing and Marxist urban guerilla groups who revolted against military dictatorship. She was jailed for 2 years where she is said to have been tortured.  She was later elected as the first woman president of Brazil.

2. Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton is the Secretary of state, US and second most powerful woman in the world. The wife of former president of US – Bill Clinton, she has the reputation of being a no- nonsense diplomat. Earlier, from 2001 to 1009she was United States Senator for New York.  During the 2008 elections, she was a leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination but ultimately lost to Barack Obama. She has been spending her final months as a secretary visiting countries, one after the other. Her last 12 months have been quite formidable probably because Wikileaks released sensitive diplomatic cables in November where she urged Syrian president Bashar Assad to leave power and warned North Korean leader to take a different route than his militant father. in fact, she faced ridicule after it went viral and there were meme ridiculing her which went viral.

1. Angela Merkel

The German chancellor is the most powerful lady in the world. She heads the 27 member European Union and also carries the burden of future of Euro on her shoulders. The first woman chancellor of Germany is also the party leader of Christian Demographic Union. She was earlier a physical chemist who entered politics during 1989 Revolutions, i.e. at  the time of fall of Berlin Wall. But her biggest challenge lies in reviving her government’s now declining popularity before next elections and also overcoming the challenges of her hard line austerity prescriptions for solving European debt crisis which are opposed by both the concerned parties. she is also the second woman to head G8 and preside over European Council. she is not only the most powerful woman but also the second most powerful person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.