Here is a list of Top 10 Most Powerful Women Politicians around the world.
Dalia Grybauskaite. (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 10)
Dalia Grybauskaitė, born 1 March 1956 is the current President of Lithuania, inaugurated on 12 July 2009. She had previously been Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance Minister, and European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget.
The list of top ten most authoritative women politicians cannot be concluded without naming the current President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite. Dalia might have worked part time to earn her Ph.D. in Economics but now she is the most influential lady in the nation and is referred to as the “Iron Lady” or the “Steel Magnolia”, Grybauskaitė is Lithuania’s first female head of state.
Tarja Halonen (Rank on 10 Most Powerful Women Politicians Politicians list: 9)
Tarja Kaarina Halonen, born 24 December 1943 was the 11th President of Finland, serving from 2000 to 2012, the first female to hold the office. Apart from politics, she also had a long and extensive career in trade unions and in various nongovernmental organisations. A law graduate from the University of Helsinki, she was active in student politics as well as served as the Social Affairs Secretary and Organization Secretary of the National Union of Students from 1969 to 1970. Tarja was also a lawyer in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions thus proving herself as one among the most powerful women politicians. During the time of her presidency she has been extremely popular among Finns: her approval ratings rose and reached a peak of 88% in December 2003. Ineligible to run in the 2012 presidential elections due to term limits, and she left office on 1 March 2012.
Laura Chinchilla (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 8)
Born on 28 March 1959, Laura Chinchilla Miranda is a Costa Rican politician is the present President of Costa Rica. She is the first female President of Costa Rica and is the sixth woman to be elected president of a Latin American country, she was sworn in as president of Costa Rica on May 8, 2010. A former Vice President, she was also the Public Security Minister and Justice Minister in the National Liberation Party. Environmental protection and sustainability is very essential for the Lady, and she continues Costa Rica’s level of management in these sectors.
Johanna Sigurdardottir (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 7)
Johanna Sigurdardottir, born 4 October 1942, is the current Prime Minister of Iceland. A former flight attendant, Johanna Sigurdardottir has entered politics 1978 and since then has won eight consecutive elections. The present Prime Minister of Iceland, she was also Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security. She has not only earned a named for being one of the most authoritative women politicians but also is the world’s first openly gay head of state. In 2009, Forbes listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world.
Sheikh Hasina Wajed (Rank on Powerful Women Politicians list: 6)
The 62-year-old Sheikh Hasina is a Bangladeshi politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangladesh Awami League, a major political party, since 1981. Sheik Hasina Wajed was elected the Prime Minister of Bangladesh twice – once in 1996 and then again in 2009. The lady is still going strong and politically active despite losing 17 members of her family including her son in an assassination. Hasina is also a member of the Council of Women World Leaders whose aim is to mobilize women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women’s development.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 5)
Served as Liberia’s Minister of Finance in the late 1970s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the 24th and current President of Liberia,born 29 October 1938. Educated at the University of Wisconsin and at Harvard she was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”. Dedicating her life for the non violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s right Ellen has been regarded one among the most powerful women politician.
Julia Gillard (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 4)
The first woman Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since 24 June 2010. Julia Eileen Gillard was born in Barry on 29 September 1961, but later migrated to Adelaide, Australia in 1966 with her family. Previous to her existing post she was also the minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The 2010 federal election saw the first hung parliament since the 1940 federal election. Though she respects all religion she herself does not believe in any.
Dilma Rousseff (Rank on Powerful Women Politicians list: 3)
Dilma Vana Rousseff, the 36th and the present Brazilian president was born on 14 December 1947 and was raised in in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte. She is the first woman to hold the office. Prior to that, in 2005, she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff to the President of Brazil. She was a socialist since her childhood and had also joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups to fight against the military dictatorship. An economist by education, Dilma is one of the most authoritative women politicians who once said “I would like parents who have daughters to look straight in their eyes and tell them: ‘Yes, a woman can,’”.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Rank on Powerful Women Politicians list: 2)
Born as Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner on 19 February 1953, commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner, Christina is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina’s first elected female president from the nation to hold this post. A fashion icon for women and a notable advocate for human rights, poverty awareness and health improvement she is the most outspoken promoter of Argentina’s claim to sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
Angela Merkel (Rank on Most Powerful Women Politicians list: 1)
Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German Chancellor and the Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany, Born on 17 July 1954, Angela pursued doctorate degree in Physics before joining politics. Childless and twice married she won a seat in the Bundestag during the first post-reunification general election, in December 1990 and the very next year she was appointed as the Cabinet minister by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. A vital role player in the management of European financial crisis at international level, Angela Merkel is the most powerful women in the world of politics.