Forbes List: Most Powerful Women In the World
Michelle Obama is the most powerful woman in the world according to Forbes
The Forbes top on the most powerful women on the planet was released on Wednesday and there are some surprises in the magazine’s list.
The Forbes list includes Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Beyonce Knowles and Ellen DeGeneres, but also the First Lady, Michele Obama. Well, Lady Gaga, described by the Daily Mail as “an outrageous pop star notorious for outfits including a dress apparently made of raw meat,” is according to the Forbes top one of the most powerful women on the planet, being placed in front of many other personalities, including even the United Kingdom’s Queen. Well, Lady Gaga, who actually met the Queen earlier this year, in not the only one to be placed in front of the Queen, who is only on the 41st place in the Forbes magazine rankings. Beyoncé Knowles or Angelina Jolie are better ranked and also is French First Lady Carla Bruni. It is probably because Forbes opted for a different way of making the list this year, basing it less on wealth and position and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. A particular attention was also given to the use of social networking sites and the influence these powerful women have on them.
However, first person on the Forbes magazine list when it comes to the most powerful women in the world is US First Lady, Michelle Obama. She replaced the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top of the list, who is now on the fourth place, and this happened mostly because of her campaigns on childhood obesity and rights for military families.
Angela Merkel
Oprah Winfrey is third on the list and that place is not shocking at all for the woman who is worth $2.7 billion and earned $315 million in the past year, while Beyonce Knowles, who earned $87 million, is ranked number nine and Angelina Jolie is number 21. Former “American Idol” judge DeGeneres is 10th on the list and she earned $55 million, but as already said this year Forbes took into account many things in making this list and DeGeneres influence on Twitter helped her. Sarah Palin is number 16 and in her case the 2.3 million Facebook friends were a plus. Katie Couric is number 22, while Madonna is ranked on the 29th place and Sarah Jessica Parker is on 45. Model Heidi Klum is on 39 and Serena Williams, the famous female tennis player on 55.
Lady Gaga, although she is placed on the Forbes top for the first time, is in the top ten, being number seven on the list. Gaga received this place not only because she earned $62 million in the past year according to Forbes, but she also “single-handedly reinvigorated pop music and pop culture.”
Lady Gaga
“The women on our list, through their respective realms of power and influence, are shaping many of the agenda-setting conversations of our day, and have become dynamic catalysts for driving meaningful change across the world,” Moira Forbes, vice president of ForbesWoman, said. “They have built companies and brands, sometimes by non-traditional means and they have broken through gender barriers in areas of commerce, politics, sports and media and cultural zeitgeist, and thereby affecting the lives of millions, sometimes billions of people,” she added.
Here is the Forbes Top Ten most powerful women in the world.
1. Michelle Obama, US First Lady
2. Irene Rosenfeld, US CEO, Kraft Foods
3. Oprah Winfrey, US talk show host
4. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
5. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State
6. Indra Nooyi, US CEO, PepsiCo
7. Lady Gaga, US singer
8. Gail Kelly, CEO Westpac bank, Australia
9. Beyonce Knowles, US singer
10. Ellen DeGeneres, US talk show host
