Women on top: Forbes names 100 most powerful

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese is among the world’s most powerful women, according to Forbes magazine.

The President is now ranked 55 in the top 100 list, a significant drop from last year’s list when she was in 21st position.

The prestigious list has 30 female politicians in its top 100, with German’s first female chancellor Angela Merkel ranked as the world’s most powerful and influential woman.

Last year she didn’t make it into the list at all. She displaces US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who slips to number two.

Wu Yi, vice-president of China, is ranked third.

But seven of the top 10 entries were businesswomen, including Indra Nooyi, the chief executive-designate of PepsiCo, who is the highest ranked businesswoman, at number four.

Daytime soap queen, and all-round businesswoman, Oprah Winfrey drops out of the top 10 this year.

While Tony Blair’s wife Cherie drops out of the top 100.

Hillary Clinton, tipped as a potential presidential candidate in the next US elections, is ranked 18th.

Among the top 10 is Anne Mulcahy, chief executive of Xerox/US, who started as a sales rep for the company 30 years ago.

In 2002 she helped save the company from bankruptcy and has successfully steered it through a number of challenges from competitors.

The list includes a growing number of women who are chief executives of multinational companies.

Britain’s top entrant was Margaret Beckett, the country’s foreign secretary, who was ranked 29th.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is ranked 46th. Katie Couric, anchor of CBS Evening news, and rumoured to be the world’s highest paid journalist, is ranked 54th in the poll.

Other notable entries include Melinda Gates, director of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, whose assets exceeded the GDP of at least 100 countries.