Top 15 Most Powerful Women in the World

…Which kinds of women are considered powerful?

When I was a little girl, I used to play dress-up most of the time. It was one of my favorite things to do and the best part was that I didn’t need anyone else to have fun.

I used to step into my mother’s heels, put on red lipstick and a nice flowy dress, and pretend that I’m one of the most popular women in the world.

I know that I had a very well-thought speech, where I talked about how I like to help out people, to invent certain things, to own a business, and all kinds of things I found interesting at the time.

Now that I’m a lot older, I understand that women support women and they uplift each other in order to do great things. Given the fact that on the inside I’m still the little girl who wants to turn into a flourishing female, I try to learn as much as I can from the most powerful women in the world. Here are 15 of them.

15. Nancy Pelosi 

Nancy Patricia Pelosi is one of the most popular American politicians and has served as a speaker of the US House of Representatives since 2019. In 2019, she was elected as speaker for the third time, after the Democrats managed to regain the House during the midterm elections in 2018.

She has served as a United States representative from California since 1987 and her efforts weren’t unnoticed. In 2013, Nancy Pelosi was enlisted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame at a beautiful commemoration that took place in Seneca Falls.

In 2019, the speaker proposed the fourth-ever complaint proceeding in the United States’ history in opposition to former President Donald Trump.

14. Jane Fraser 

In 2019, Jane Fraser became the president of Citigroup, one of the most popular American investment banks and financial services corporations. Besides this important role, she was also named the CEO of Consumer Banking.

In September 2020, Citigroup announced that Fraser is going to replace Michael Corbat as CEO of Citigroup Inc. However, she officially started her role a few months later, in March 2021.

She joined Citigroup in 2004 and she proved to everyone that she is a smart and powerful woman. Jane Fraser managed to conduct several groups and she also included an incredible corporate approach, unification, and acquisition during the time of the financial crisis.

13. Emma Walmsley 

Emma Walmsley has been the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline since April 2017 and she became the first woman in the world to run a huge pharmaceutical company.

Before this top position, Walmsley used to work as the CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare. We can say that she is very determined to become as successful as possible!

12. Carol Tomé

The number 12 on our list is Carol Tomé, the woman who used to be the CFO of Home Depot, where she worked for 24 years. Given her experience and passion, she has a lot of responsibilities and roles within the company, such as Vice President and Treasurer, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer.

In 2020, she took a different career path, and she started running the shipping giant UPS. She took the role with great force and in her first 100 days as a CEO, she focused all her powers on preparing the logistics for the 2020 vacation period and the possible delivery of a Covid vaccine.

11. Karen Lynch 

Karen Lynch is a powerful woman who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health. She is a real lady boss, leading more than 300,000 smart people who are working towards making the health system simpler, more accessible, and customizable.

In March 2020, when the whole world was changed by the new coronavirus, she took charge of the way CVS responded to the crises. As a result, the company became responsible for the biggest number of independently-run SARS-CoV-2-testing sites in the United States.

Given the fact that she is a very smart and hard-working woman, she is also part of the Boston College Women’s Council.

10. Julie Sweet 

Julie Sweet is a talented American business executive. She is the CEO of the Accenture company since 2019, which is a multinational professional services group. Besides that, she is also a representative of the Global Management Committee for Accenture.

According to her statements, diversity is one of her main objectives. During an interview, Sweet told Forbes magazine that “a culture of equality helps everyone. It is not a zero-sum game”.

9. Tsai Ing-wen 

Tsai Ing-wen is the first woman who became the leader of Taiwan when she was voted in 2016. In addition to that, she is also the first president who is not married.

She is one of the members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and she is the first woman to become the president of the Republic of China.

She has big plans for her country, such as transforming the city of Taiwan into a crucial part of the world with the help of biotech, green energy, and defense infrastructure.

8. Ursula von der Leyen 

In July 2019, Ursula von der Leyen became the president of the European Commission, which is the executive bureau of the European Union. She is a powerful woman and she is the first female who managed to serve in the role. Given the fact that her position is one of the most important ones that can exist, she is responsible for the legislation that impacts over 700 million citizens of Europe.

She was a member of Angela Merkel’s cabinet for 14 years, from 2005 to 2019, which is the longest occupation of any cabinet representative. During her last 6 years as a cabinet member, she was the defense minister of Germany.

7. Ana Patricia Botín

Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz de Sautuola O’Shea is a Spanish woman who works as a banker. Due to the fact that her father died in 2014, she became the chair of the Santander Group company.

This powerful woman is the fourth generation of the Botín family to be in such a high position in a business group. She wanted to help students who want to become entrepreneurs and she launched a platform called Santander X. With the help of her idea, she managed to create the first multi-sector blockchain-based platform in the country.

Ana Patricia Botín believes that cryptocurrency is one of the most impressive things that exist nowadays and she can’t wait to see how central banks will administer it.

6. Abigail Johnson 

Abigail Johnson is a powerful businesswoman who is one of the most popular billionaires in the world. In 1946, her grandfather, Edward Johnson II, started the base of a company called Fidelity Investments.

In 2016, Johnson became the chair of the business and now she is the proud owner of a roughly 24.5% stake in the company, which has no less than $4.2 trillion in managed belongings.

5. Melinda French Gates 

Many people and important magazines believe that Melinda French Gates is the most impressive woman in philanthropy, especially as the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2021, the Gates couple made a public statement in which they announced that they will end their marriage, but they will continue to work as business partners.

In conformity with sources, she became a billionaire herself after her ex-partner transferred her $2.4 billion worth of stock in 2021. She wants to help women all around the world fight for their rights, so she focused her attention on working towards it.

4. Mary Barra 

Mary Barra is an American businesswoman who is very popular for being the CEO of General Motors Company since January 2014. She is considered to be the first woman who managed to be the CEO of any important automobile manufacturer in the world.

She invested a lot of money in creating electric cars, self-driving vehicles, and also a ride-share service that is called Maven. In 2018, General Motors was considered to be one of the only two global companies that have no gender wage gap.

3. Christine Lagarde 

In November 2019, Christine Lagarde became the first female to head the European Central Bank. Given the fact that she is the head of the European monetary policy, she had a very hard job to do when the Covid-19 crisis emerged. She had to make sure that the pandemic doesn’t cause further chaos in the Euro area.

During the financial crisis in 2018, Christine Lagarde made a few pertinent comments in this industry that is usually male-dominated and asked for gender reform.

2. Kamala Harris 

On January 20th, 2021, Kamala Harris broke three world records: she became the first Black person, the first female, and also the first South Asian-American to become the vice president of the United States of America.

Between 2017 and 2021, this incredibly powerful woman served as the junior United States Senator for California. Because she likes to be the first in many cases, in 2010, Mrs. Harris became both the first woman and first African-American to serve as the attorney general of California.

1. MacKenzie Scott

Number one on our list is MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Even though they were married for more than 20 years, their relationship couldn’t go further, so they got divorced in 2019. As a result of their separation, she received 25% of his giant company’s stake.

MacKenzie Scott is a billionaire philanthropist who doesn’t keep all the money just for herself, but she wants to help people as much as she can. According to some of her social media posts, she donated over $3.8 billion to hundreds of organizations.

In conformity with several sources, besides the incredible amount of money she has and the two novels she wrote, Scott is also popular for the fact that she donated billions of dollars to several charities.

…What do you think about all these powerful women?

…If you want to read something else before you head out, make sure to check this article out as well because it’s just as interesting as this one: 11 Irish-Born Celebrities Who Found Fame in the US!