German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful women in the world for the third year in a row, based on their careers, economic impact and media coverage. ‘object.
Sheila Bair, who chairs the US Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Agency (FDIC), joins the list where she climbs to second place, due to her increasingly important role in the context of the subprime mortgage crisis and economic slowdown in the United States.
The first French in this ranking, Anne Lauvergeon, president of the Areva management board, is ninth. The French Minister of Economy and Finance, Christine Lagarde, is in 14th position in the list. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is, along with Merkel, the only female politician appearing in the “Top 10″, even if she drops three places compared to last year and finds herself at number 7, while the Bush administration is preparing to give way, next January, to the one who will emerge from the polls on November 4th.
Among these 100 most powerful women are 23 politicians and 54 businesswomen. The rest are media personalities or leaders of nonprofit organizations. A third of the names are new. Among these, that of the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez. Other names disappear from the list. Thus that of Patricia Russo, former manager of Alcatel-Lucent ( ALU ) .
