Forbes: World's Most Powerful Women 2010
Filed under: Celebs & Money, In the News
By Meghan Casserly, Forbes.com
Forbes' power lists are synonymous with moguls and movie stars, heads of state and captains of business. One look at the 2010 World's 100 Most Powerful Women list and it is clear that we've come up with a new ranking of the female power elite that reflects the New Order of now.
When we set out to identify this year's list, we decided it was time to look up and out into the broader culture. Our assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. They have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases, they have broken through gender barriers.
We divided our power women candidates into four groups: politics, business, media and lifestyle (that is, entertainment, sports and fashion). We ranked the women in each group, and then ranked them group against group. Not easy, but that's today's reality: an incongruous, diverse mash-up of hard power (currencies and constitutions) and dynamic power (audience and audacity).
Why else would Lady Gaga (No. 7) and Ellen DeGeneres (No. 10) share top 10 billing with Michelle Obama (No. 1), Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods (No. 2), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (No. 5) and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (No. 6)? If anything, it's inspiring.
[Scroll down to see list of the Top 10 Most Powerful Women in the World.]
We included many heads of state and hopeful candidates, but we also have queen makers who don't hold office, first ladies of various sorts, Supreme Court justices and cultural icons, bankers and bestselling authors. We rely on these women for, yes, managing our money, creating paychecks and governing at home and on the international stage, but also for influencing what we eat, download, talk about around the dinner table and the causes we support. What we think and how we act.
At the top of our list, First Lady Michelle Obama is a true change-maker since taking lodge in the White House in 2008. The first African-American in the post, she's changed the face of the office (literally), and with consistently high approval ratings, she's given a new generation of girls and women around the world a role model. A former private attorney and public servant in Chicago, her interest in working with young people and advocating for healthy eating, among other issues, is evidenced by her Let's Move! campaign, which aims to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.
Power women are connected, each one leveraging the power of the next. As a result of Let's Move!, for example, major food and drink manufacturers (including Rosenfeld's Kraft Foods and Nooyi's PepsiCo) have pledged to cut 1.5 trillion calories from their products by 2015 through new products, recipes and reduced portion sizes. At the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) last month, Secretary of State Clinton led a plenary session on empowering women and girls, a new CGI action area, and attended by Katie Couric (No. 22), Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan (No. 76) and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (No. 86).
Back to how Nooyi and talk show host DeGeneres landed together among the top 10 most powerful women in the world? While Nooyi helms PepsiCo, which has revenues of $43 billion annually and a portfolio of brands that include Tropicana, Frito Lay and Gatorade, DeGeneres directly connects with 3 million viewers every weekday through her talk show. And that's just one hour of her day.
Off-camera, the out-and-proud DeGeneres spreads her message to more than 5 million Twitter followers, notably bringing national attention to a gay teen's fight for same-sex prom dates last spring. Her high-profile, high-energy personality -- as a television host, CoverGirl model and former judge of American Idol -- has made LGBT issues more than mainstream. She's instilled a sense of glee and attractiveness to it all.
[Story and list of 10 Most Powerful Women continues below.]
Traditionally, women's lists are heavily salted with the language of "firsts." First woman CEO. First woman on the Supreme Court. First female president. To be sure, there are firsts on this list: Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House, while race car driver Danica Patrick is the first (and only) woman to have won an IndyCar series. With the impending launch of OWN, Oprah Winfrey is the first woman to own her own cable network and Julia Gillard and Johnson Sirleaf are currently the first female prime minister of Australia and Africa's first female president, respectively.
First females make for good copy, but the real headline is that packs have emerged. Three women sit on the Supreme Court, marking an unprecedented tipping point for change. This year Diane Sawyer joined Couric as a female nightly solo news anchor, with Rachel Maddow and Christiane Amanpour as compatriots. Gillard is among 10 female heads of state on this year's rankings. From Singapore to Silicon Valley, 25 women on the list hold CEO titles.
Ripening for political leaders, generally, comes when they are in their 50s and 60s, while business leaders peak in their 40s and 50s. Media and lifestyle power women seem to come of age in their 20s and 30s. But there are notable exceptions and crossover. Madonna and Arianna Huffington have exceptional staying power, while Sarah Palin and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg are early bloomers.
Redefining the idea of power as influence is a challenging feat, particularly hard in that we looked at the world in all of its complexities to find the women who wield their importance in four distilled spheres to create change. Add the pace of the year 2010 -- the speed at which we consume and communicate -- and the task becomes even greater.
What we've found is that power, hard or dynamic, can be fleeting. One million or so Twitter followers today can be kissed goodbye as quickly as a company can go bankrupt or a government overthrown. And so we consider this list a frozen moment in time.
We invite you to visit forbes.com/woman where the list will live, breathe and be shaped and reshaped in months to come.
World's 10 Most Powerful Women
No. 1: Michelle Obama
Age: 46
Title: First Lady
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: LLM , Harvard University; BA/BS, Princeton University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
No. 2: Irene Rosenfeld
Age: 57
Title: Chief Executive, Kraft Foods
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Cornell University; PHD, Cornell University; MS, Cornell University
Marital Status: Widower
Children: 2
No. 3: Oprah Winfrey
Age: 56
Title: Talk show host and media mogul
Source: television, self-made
Residence: Chicago, IL
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Tennessee State University
Marital Status: Single
No. 4: Angela Merkel
Age: 56
Title: Chancellor
Country of citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Married
No. 5: Hillary Clinton
Age: 62
Title: Secretary of State
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Wellesley College; LLM, Yale University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 1
No. 6: Indra Nooyi
Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, PepsiCo
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: MBA , Yale University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
No. 7: Lady Gaga
Age: 24
Title: Singer and performance artist
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: Dropout , New York University
Marital Status: Single
No. 8: Gail Kelly
Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, Westpac
Country of citizenship: Australia
Education: BA/BS , University of Cape Town
Marital Status: Married
No. 9: Beyonce Knowles
Age: 29
Title: Singer, fashion designer
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
No. 10: Ellen DeGeneres
Age: 52
Title: Talk show host
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
Click here to see the next Most Powerful Woman in the World.
When we set out to identify this year's list, we decided it was time to look up and out into the broader culture. Our assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. They have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases, they have broken through gender barriers.
We divided our power women candidates into four groups: politics, business, media and lifestyle (that is, entertainment, sports and fashion). We ranked the women in each group, and then ranked them group against group. Not easy, but that's today's reality: an incongruous, diverse mash-up of hard power (currencies and constitutions) and dynamic power (audience and audacity).
Why else would Lady Gaga (No. 7) and Ellen DeGeneres (No. 10) share top 10 billing with Michelle Obama (No. 1), Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods (No. 2), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (No. 5) and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (No. 6)? If anything, it's inspiring.
[Scroll down to see list of the Top 10 Most Powerful Women in the World.]
We included many heads of state and hopeful candidates, but we also have queen makers who don't hold office, first ladies of various sorts, Supreme Court justices and cultural icons, bankers and bestselling authors. We rely on these women for, yes, managing our money, creating paychecks and governing at home and on the international stage, but also for influencing what we eat, download, talk about around the dinner table and the causes we support. What we think and how we act.
At the top of our list, First Lady Michelle Obama is a true change-maker since taking lodge in the White House in 2008. The first African-American in the post, she's changed the face of the office (literally), and with consistently high approval ratings, she's given a new generation of girls and women around the world a role model. A former private attorney and public servant in Chicago, her interest in working with young people and advocating for healthy eating, among other issues, is evidenced by her Let's Move! campaign, which aims to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.
Power women are connected, each one leveraging the power of the next. As a result of Let's Move!, for example, major food and drink manufacturers (including Rosenfeld's Kraft Foods and Nooyi's PepsiCo) have pledged to cut 1.5 trillion calories from their products by 2015 through new products, recipes and reduced portion sizes. At the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) last month, Secretary of State Clinton led a plenary session on empowering women and girls, a new CGI action area, and attended by Katie Couric (No. 22), Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan (No. 76) and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (No. 86).
Back to how Nooyi and talk show host DeGeneres landed together among the top 10 most powerful women in the world? While Nooyi helms PepsiCo, which has revenues of $43 billion annually and a portfolio of brands that include Tropicana, Frito Lay and Gatorade, DeGeneres directly connects with 3 million viewers every weekday through her talk show. And that's just one hour of her day.
Off-camera, the out-and-proud DeGeneres spreads her message to more than 5 million Twitter followers, notably bringing national attention to a gay teen's fight for same-sex prom dates last spring. Her high-profile, high-energy personality -- as a television host, CoverGirl model and former judge of American Idol -- has made LGBT issues more than mainstream. She's instilled a sense of glee and attractiveness to it all.
[Story and list of 10 Most Powerful Women continues below.]
More From Forbes.com:
The 20 Youngest Power Women
Power Women Around The World
Top Women on Social Media
Women To Watch
Traditionally, women's lists are heavily salted with the language of "firsts." First woman CEO. First woman on the Supreme Court. First female president. To be sure, there are firsts on this list: Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House, while race car driver Danica Patrick is the first (and only) woman to have won an IndyCar series. With the impending launch of OWN, Oprah Winfrey is the first woman to own her own cable network and Julia Gillard and Johnson Sirleaf are currently the first female prime minister of Australia and Africa's first female president, respectively.
First females make for good copy, but the real headline is that packs have emerged. Three women sit on the Supreme Court, marking an unprecedented tipping point for change. This year Diane Sawyer joined Couric as a female nightly solo news anchor, with Rachel Maddow and Christiane Amanpour as compatriots. Gillard is among 10 female heads of state on this year's rankings. From Singapore to Silicon Valley, 25 women on the list hold CEO titles.
Ripening for political leaders, generally, comes when they are in their 50s and 60s, while business leaders peak in their 40s and 50s. Media and lifestyle power women seem to come of age in their 20s and 30s. But there are notable exceptions and crossover. Madonna and Arianna Huffington have exceptional staying power, while Sarah Palin and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg are early bloomers.
Redefining the idea of power as influence is a challenging feat, particularly hard in that we looked at the world in all of its complexities to find the women who wield their importance in four distilled spheres to create change. Add the pace of the year 2010 -- the speed at which we consume and communicate -- and the task becomes even greater.
What we've found is that power, hard or dynamic, can be fleeting. One million or so Twitter followers today can be kissed goodbye as quickly as a company can go bankrupt or a government overthrown. And so we consider this list a frozen moment in time.
We invite you to visit forbes.com/woman where the list will live, breathe and be shaped and reshaped in months to come.
World's 10 Most Powerful Women
Age: 46
Title: First Lady
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: LLM , Harvard University; BA/BS, Princeton University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
Age: 57
Title: Chief Executive, Kraft Foods
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Cornell University; PHD, Cornell University; MS, Cornell University
Marital Status: Widower
Children: 2
Age: 56
Title: Talk show host and media mogul
Source: television, self-made
Residence: Chicago, IL
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Tennessee State University
Marital Status: Single
Age: 56
Title: Chancellor
Country of citizenship: Germany
Marital Status: Married
Age: 62
Title: Secretary of State
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: BA/BS , Wellesley College; LLM, Yale University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 1
Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, PepsiCo
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: MBA , Yale University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
Age: 24
Title: Singer and performance artist
Country of citizenship: United States
Education: Dropout , New York University
Marital Status: Single
Age: 54
Title: Chief Executive, Westpac
Country of citizenship: Australia
Education: BA/BS , University of Cape Town
Marital Status: Married
Age: 29
Title: Singer, fashion designer
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
Age: 52
Title: Talk show host
Country of citizenship: United States
Marital Status: Married
Click here to see the next Most Powerful Woman in the World.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
10-06-2010 @ 8:01PM
Jenny said...
I'm not one of the worlds most powerful women. I am a single mom and wanted nothing more than to get my kids out of day care. I kept looking for a way out until a friend of mine told me that she found a way a to make a great living from home . She told me that she found out about it at this website ( HttP://bit.LY/HomeBizSuccess ). That program doesn't cost much and it quickly taught me the skills I needed to be successful. I started out part time but in a few months I was able to quit my job. Not only am I making serious money now but I get to spend most of my day doing what I love… being a mommy!
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 8:03PM
Liza said...
There aren't many job opportunities today for women over 50. At age 60, finding myself unemployed for the first time in my life, and basically unemployable because of my gender and age, I easily learned the skills that have turned my life around and have me earning more money than I ever did before. If I could do it anyone should be able to. I owe it all to a program that I discovered at this site HttP://cl.lk/onlinebizsuccess . This old dog had to learn new skills because nobody is hiring 60 year old women now. In fact, this worked out so well for me that my son is now supporting his family using the same training I got from this program. There's nothing better than making a great income from the comfort of your own home.
10-06-2010 @ 8:08PM
xiacxxmeicr said...
oh great article ,I could see your exclusion of Taxi Driver
but how on earth (unless I missed it) could
you not include Sullivan's Travels?My boyfriend and i both think so ...He is almost 11year older than me .i met him via kissmilita ry.c oma nice place for s'ee'king Army, Navy, Mari'nes, Air Force, Police Force and their admires.just love it
10-06-2010 @ 11:13PM
yinweichaoz said...
You've got to be kidding. Obama's wife looks like crap. She dresses like she belongs in some tribe somewhere.My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at 10yearg ap. c om a nice and free place for younger women and older men, or older women and younger men, to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
10-07-2010 @ 4:11AM
Peggy W Palmer said...
Free Apple Iphone4 OH my God i am unable to believe it Here Http://bit.ly/appleipzh. I just got it now. As i am housewife ithelped me a lot. you too get it
10-06-2010 @ 8:09PM
Paula said...
I am a single mother of one young child and I only have one income, which is only $21,000/year, Living in California! My credit is a real mess (due to being very irresponsible), but now I am making an effort to clean it up and make my life better. I have purchased almost EVERY program and have gone to just about every "free seminar" on making money online. Not only did these programs not work for me, I spent money that I truly did not have. I used all of my savings to get all these courses and found them to be extremely difficult to use and were not speaking my language. I wanted the make a better life for my child and me. Also, to leave him something when I'm gone. I was very excited to discovered this website: ( http://tinyurl.com/ProfitFromYourHome ) I wish I had known about this site five years ago I know it would have saved me a lot of capital.
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 8:11PM
mepsell said...
Surely this is a joke? Was the Forbes editor smoking crack?
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 10:02PM
Faye said...
YES YES YES They had to be on crack & every other drug out there.
They are out of their minds. This list shows the world's gone mad!!!!!!!!
10-06-2010 @ 10:58PM
Kathy said...
mepsell, I couldn't agree with you more!!
10-07-2010 @ 2:18AM
sikk said...
... not only gone mad, smoking crack , but complete idiots,... on a side note ... did any one notice how much michelle Obama and Oprah look alot like chimpanzees....??????
10-06-2010 @ 8:12PM
Gerry said...
What a bunch of crap. Michelle Obama--give me a break!!!
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 9:47PM
jeanemgraham said...
Why? Are you Jealous ? If you are intelligente enough maybe you can achieve some of her credentials.
10-06-2010 @ 10:18PM
Gaineja said...
Can you tell me what she has achieved besides her degree? No way should she be on this list. The same can be said for Gaga and beyonce
10-06-2010 @ 8:16PM
tom said...
Michelle Obama? You have to be kidding, What has she done to become the most powerful? Oh! I forgot the same as Barack did for the Nobel Prize! NOTHING
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 10:32PM
HogWash2 said...
http://obamaachievements.org/list#top
It takes a good woman to make a powerful man. Go take your meds.
10-07-2010 @ 3:19AM
Kevin said...
About your comment on our president doing nothing to win the
Nobel Peace Prize: How about becoming the president of a country in which less than 40 years ago would not be allowed to vote in many states? Not only being denied voting rights, but also not being allowed to eat in the same resturants as whites, drink from the same fountains, or even use the same restrooms. President Obama inspired Americans enough to vote him in as president and their leader. Proving he is a man of peace, he does not rub his accomplishment in the faces of those who oppose him. He continues doing his job which is getting this country back on track. It's tough cleaning up the damages done by a Republican administration that was in office for 8 years. With such odds against him he is still doing an awsome job.
10-07-2010 @ 5:44AM
cpatg47 said...
It only shows that it takes a powerful man to get his wife listed as one of the world's most powerful women. All the rest are celebrities, included only because they seem to be on everyone's mind at the moment, hardly a qualification for being the most powerful woman. Methinks the Forbes lady is biased toward celebrity.
10-06-2010 @ 8:30PM
ANTHONY said...
UMMMM TOM IF U DIDNT KNOW , WHAT MICHELLE DID WAS BECOME THE FIRST LADY...... ANYONE WITH BRAINS KNOW THAT THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD... WHAT DID LAURA BUSH AND GEORGE BUSH DO , OTHER THAN BLAME MUSLIMS FOR WHY THEY KNOCKED OUT NYC'S TWO FRONT TEETH (WORLD TRADE CENTER)
Reply
10-06-2010 @ 9:57PM
J. Greene said...
You are an ignorammus. George Bush came out after 9/11 and said it was not muslims and said that they were radical extremists. Also; it wasn't two front teeth knocked out - it was nearly 3000 innocent live of all races, creeds and colors that were murdered. Get it right and don't be such an idiot.
10-06-2010 @ 10:21PM
gaineja said...
Anthony obviously you are a complete idiot no offense but your comparison needs a good kick in the teeth