Here Are The Top 15 Most Powerful Women In The World 2021

There are several influential and powerful women today. The power play between men and women has been unfair against women, to say the least. Women have to fight and engage in several movements before they’ve had the chance to assume niches in society.

Before, men were the only ones who held power or owned businesses, but now, we have women presidents, businesswomen, influential women who have proven that women are as capable as men

1. Angela Markel

Markel Became the first female chancellor of Germany in 2005 and she is surviving her fourth term. Markel stepped down as a leader of the Christian Democratic Union and announced she will not seek another term as a chancellor in 2021. She remains the defacto leader of Europe.

2. Christine Lagarde

Lagarde became the first woman to head the European Central Bank on November 1, 2019. As head of European Monetary policy, she faces a critical test, ensuring the coronavirus pandemic does not wreak further havoc on the Eurozone.

3. Kamala Harris

On November 7, 2020, Kamala Harris became the first woman in American history elected to the Vice President. She is no stranger to first. In 2016, she was the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the United States.

4. Ursula Von Der Leyen

Ursula was appointed president of the European Commission, the Executive branch of the Europeans Union in July 2019.  She is the first woman to serve in the role who is responsible for legislation affecting more than 700 million Europeans.

5. Melinda Gates

Gates maintains her position as the most powerful woman in philanthropy as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In early May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced they were getting divorced but will still remain co-chairs of the foundation.

6. Mary Barra

GM’s CEO since 2014, Barra is the first woman to lead one of the big three automakers in the U.S. Barra has invested billions in electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and a ride-share service called Maven. In spring 2020, she shifted GM’s production lines to help Ventec Life Systems make critically needed ventilators.

7. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi entered politics in 1987 after winning a special election in California’s eighth congressional district, which includes San Francisco. In 2002, Pelosi was chosen to be the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives.

8. Ana Patricia Botín

Botín became chair of the company in 2014, after the sudden death of her father, Emilio. She pulled off a coup in 2017 when Banco Santander acquired failing Banco Popular (BP) for 1 euro to become Spain’s largest bank.

9. Abigail Johnson

Abigail Johnson has served as CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014 when she took over for her father and has been chairman since 2016. Her grandfather, Edward Johnson II, founded the Boston-based mutual fund giant in 1946.

10. Gail Boudreaux

Boudreaux was named CEO of Anthem in 2017. She was previously CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest division within UnitedHealth Group. It is one of the nation’s largest health insurers and has completed acquisitions of America’s 1st Choice, HealthSun, and Aspire Health.

11. Carol Tomé

As Tomé puts it, she broke “lots of glass” when she was appointed to run shipping giant UPS in June 2020. She is both its first “outsider” CEO and its first female chief executive. In her first 100 days as CEO, she focused on preparing the logistics for the 2020 holiday season and the eventual delivery of a Covid vaccine.

12. Emma Walmsley

Walmsley became CEO of GlaxoSmithKline in April of 2017, making her the first woman to run a major pharmaceutical company. Since taking the helm of the 300-year-old company, she led a global restructuring program aimed at saving more than $500 million a year by 2021

13. Susan Wojcicki

Susan Wojcicki is CEO of Alphabet subsidiary YouTube, which has 2 billion monthly users. In 1998, Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page rented Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, California, and developed Google’s search engine there.

14. Julie Sweet

Julie Sweet became the CEO of the global services company Accenture in September 2019. Before becoming CEO, Sweet served as Accenture’s general counsel and its head of North America–the company’s largest market

15. Safra Catz

Catz has served as CEO of software firm Oracle since September 2014, when founder Larry Ellison stepped down from the role. She joined Oracle in 1999 and is credited with spearheading Oracle’s aggressive acquisition strategy, helping close more than 130 acquisitions.