From politicians, musicians, CEO’s and philanthropists see the powerful women making the world go round plus the Australian women making their mark on this years Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women List.
by Anna McDougall, Money Maven
Can you believe Forbes has only been ranking the political and economic prowess of the world’s most powerful women for nine years?
We salute these leading ladies of all nationalities and all walks of life who pave the way for modern women and continue to inspire generations of girls the world over!
Taking out the top spot for the second year running, as well as ranking number 4 in Forbes’ Most Powerful People list, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, dubbed the “Iron Lady” of Europe is the lead player in the European economic drama and has endured to do everything in her power to preserve the 17-country EU. As well as her commitment to reducing greenhouse gasses she racks up an impressive $3,139,000 GDP.
Hot on her heels is US Secretary of State and former presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. Not one to shy away from adversity in the past twelve months alone Hillary has navigated through the WikiLeaks scandal, visited 42 countries and has even found time to go viral with a Tumblr page.
The Australians:
Julia Gillard comes in at a recognisable 27th (right behind the Queen) and as the face of Australia for two years and Australia’s first female PM, Gillard has the colossal task of overseeing a population of 22 million and a GDP of $926 billion.
Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart is the richest woman in Asia-Pacific and uses the power of money wealth to gain influence and comes in at 35 on the Power Women List. The political powerhouse has a net worth of $18billion. One of Australia’s most influential women, Gail Kelly (No.60) leads Westpac Group, one of the nation’s Big Four lenders. She oversees $631 billion in assets, 36,000 employees and over 1,500 bank branches.
Female Entrepreneurs:
Oprah Winfrey (No. 11), Arianna Huffington (No. 29), Diane von Furstenberg (No. 33) and Miuccia Prada (No. 67). Chinese real estate tycoon Zhang Xin (No. 42), Zara founder and billionaire Rosalia Mera (No. 54) and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s first biotech entrepreneur (No. 80).
Celebrities:
Lady Gaga (No. 14) raked in $52 million over the past year and in addition to the platinum success of her latest album, and the launch of her very own social network, Gaga focused on philanthropic work in 2012. Joining the efforts of the U.N. are Shakira (No. 40), Angelina Jolie (No. 66) and Gisele Bundchen (No. 83). Beyonce (No. 32) counts the House of Dereon to her wealth and Sofia Vergara (No. 75) co-owns LatinWE. It’s widely known Jennifer Lopez (No. 38) is a multi-tiered empire unto herself.
The Power of Social Media:
According to Forbes almost all of the top 100 are active on social media—with a combined 90 million twitter followers. The most prolific tweeters, not surprisingly, are celebrities—Lady Gaga with 28,199,061; Shakira with 17,716022; Oprah with 13,180,843; Ellen DeGeneres with 12,842,222; and JLo with 10,239,010. In China, where Weibo is the social site of choice, entrepreneur Zhang Xin has racked up 4,118,029 on the site.
See the full list here.
