Susan Wojcicki: CEO of YouTube
Photo: Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
We’ve never had more women in power than we do today. From the boardroom, all the way to the floor of the House of Representatives, women today are more than making their presence felt.
While the wage gap may still exist between men and women, it’s narrowing at a rapid pace. If you’re wondering who you might want to be thanking for that, the following are the most powerful women in the world today…
Nancy Pelosi: Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Before joining YouTube, Susan Wojcicki was Google’s senior vice president in charge of marketing. She is responsible for the introduction of AdWords advertisements on Google search pages. She then launched AdSense which targets advertisements to the website and the audience.
YouTube’s CEO since 2014, Wojcicki has helped the company reach over one billion monthly users.
Greta Thunberg: Climate Change Activist
For about 40 years, Democrat Nancy Pelosi has participated in politics. Her early days in politics began as chair of the California Democratic Party. She later successfully sought a position as a California congresswoman. From there, Pelosi has held leadership positions as Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, and House Minority Whip.
In her capacity as Speaker of the House, she pursued impeachment of President Trump, steering the trial against him. Following Trump’s acquittal, Pelosi ripped up Trump’s State of Union Address speech in response to an earlier perceived snub of a failed handshake.
Oprah Winfrey: Producer, Actress, Author, and Philanthropist
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is a popular figurehead for climate change activism, despite being only 15 years old when she began. She gained attention by organizing climate change protests outside the Swedish parliament, which led to an invitation to speak at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Thunberg, along with her father and a crew, sailed a zero-emissions yacht for two weeks to New York from Sweden to attend the summit.
Thunberg’s summit speech entitled “How Dare You” lectured on the “collapse of ecosystems” and the “beginning of mass extinction.” She chastised the world leaders who attended for stealing her “dreams and … childhood with [their] empty words.” Thunberg continued attending climate change protests afterward, and she was named Time’s Person of the Year 2019 for her activism.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: US Congressional Representative
Among Oprah Winfrey’s many accomplishments, she was also the first black female billionaire. This achievement is in no small part due to the success of her eponymous talk show that aired for 25 years, and for her starring roles in several famous Hollywood films. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” avoided excessive drama with tabloid issues, focusing instead on person-to-person interviews. One of the show’s primary themes was people helping one another.
Winfrey carried this philosophy into everyday life, becoming a charitable philanthropist. Oprah’s Angel Network has not only raised millions for various charities, but has also served impoverished areas by building schools, providing school supplies, and rebuilding or restoring homes destroyed by natural disasters.
Dame Anna Wintour DBE: Vogue’s Editor-in-chief and Condé Nast’s Artistic Director
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She beat 10-term-veteran New York Democratic Representative Joe Crowley by an astonishing landslide.
Ocasio-Cortez is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, supporting Bernie Sanders, and speaking out on topical issues like border control, abortion, and cybersecurity. Her pet project, which she co-authored, is the “Green New Deal” which concerns finding solutions for climate change.
Ellen DeGeneres: Talk Show Host and Comedian
Dominating the fashion industry as editor-in-chief of Vogue, British-American journalist Anna Wintour is instantly recognizable by her signature sunglasses and pageboy-bob haircut. Fashion editor for several big-name magazines early in her career, Wintour took over as chief editor of British Vogue in the mid-1980s.
Moving within the Condé Nast global media conglomerate, she shifted to become the editor of American Vogue a year later. Wintour brought a new vision to Vogue, turning her attention away from supermodels. Her shifted focus towards featuring celebrities on the magazine cover rejuvenated the magazine. Criticized as being aloof, one former assistant fictionalized her experiences at Vogue with Wintour into the book “The Devil Wears Prada,” later made into a movie.
Christine Lagarde: European Central Bank President
American comedian Ellen DeGeneres began her career as a stand-up comic. Her first appearance on national television was on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. This appearance kickstarted her fame, especially when, after her routine, Carson invited her to sit on his legendary interview couch. DeGeneres was the only female comedian to receive this invitation on a first visit.
On her eponymous sitcom, “Ellen” made history in 1997 with the first lead character to come out as gay. In concert with the show’s revelation, DeGeneres came out herself as gay, featured on the cover of Time magazine. Facing network and public backlash, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to answer audience member questions, including some hostile ones. DeGeneres has since become an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. She also developed an eponymous talk show, “Ellen”, which has won a record number of Daytime Emmys.
Angela Merkel: Chancellor of Germany
French antitrust and labor lawyer and politician Christine Lagarde has broken through several glass ceilings. She was the first female to serve in several positions she has held through her career. These include France’s finance minister, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and her current role as the European Central Bank president. Due to these female-advancing milestones, Lagarde often regarded as one of the world’s most powerful women.
However, a few controversies have plagued her career. Advocating for debt relief during Greece’s financial crisis, Greek leaders were insulted by Lagarde’s dismissal that this was time to “payback” for their lavish lifestyle. Lagarde took to social media the next day to clarify her sympathy, but the damage was already evident, based on the negative responses she received. Controversy additionally surrounded Lagarde concerning the Bernard Tapie arbitrated dispute. Tapie claimed state-owned Crédit Lyonnais defrauded him in the 1990s, and in 2008, Lagarde sent the case to arbitration. The resulting €403 million award to Tapie caused public outrage, leading to an investigation and then a guilty charge of negligence to Lagarde (but no penalty).
Melania Trump: First Lady of the US
Angela Merkel joined the political playfield—in 1989 after the Berlin Wall fell—as a member of the Christian Democratic Union party. She served as women and youth minister in Germany chancellor Helmut Kohl’s cabinet. She later served as Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister, and then Secretary-General of the CDU.
Merkel narrowly broke the glass ceiling (by three seats) in 2005, elected as the first female chancellor. She was the first former “East German”—officially the German Democratic Republic—to lead Germany after its reunification. Merkel also had a big part in forming the European Union. She stepped down as CDU chair in 2018 and announced she would not seek reelection as chancellor when her term ends in 2021.
Melinda Gates: Co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Melania Trump is the first lady of the United States. She was born Melanija Knavs in Slovenia in 1970 and married Donald Trump in 2005. Using her platform, “Be Best”, she has expressed concern about the opioid epidemic and has condemned cyberbullying. She advocates teaching children how important a healthy and balanced life is, so they don’t turn to destructive behavior or addictions.
She does have some critics. For example, after her address at the 2016 Republican National Convention, some accused her of plagiarizing a speech of her predecessor Michelle Obama. However, a Trump staffer admitted responsibility for erroneously inserting extracts from Obama into Trump’s speech.
Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook’s COO
Melinda Gates is the wife of Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates. In 1987, she became a product manager at Microsoft, where she met her husband. But Gates is still very much an independent woman. At Microsoft, she helped to develop the budget-travel-resource Expedia.
The Gates have started several philanthropic foundations. The best known is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which began in 1999 by combining several earlier foundations. This one is famous for trying to reduce worldwide poverty and improve health. President Obama awarded the couple with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Kylie Jenner: Reality TV Star and Businesswoman
Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook. Before this position, she was Google’s vice president of global online sales and operations. She arrived at Facebook in 2008 after this company had lost $56 million. By 2018, under her financial oversight, Facebook made a profit of $22.1 billion, and ad revenue increased by 38%.
Sandberg authored the best-selling book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.” She also became the first female to sit on Facebook’s board of directors. In 2014, she became a billionaire, largely before she owned much Facebook stock.
Cynthia Marshall: Dallas Mavericks’ CEO
Aged only 21, Kylie Jenner became the youngest-ever self-made billionaire on the Forbes list, thanks to her company, Kylie Cosmetics. She founded this company in 2015, with the release of the Kylie Lip Kit, comprising a liquid lipstick and a lip liner.
The company has expanded dramatically. In November 2019, fragrance and cosmetics giant Coty Inc. bought a majority stake of 51% for $600 billion. Jenner also has a strong social media presence with 163 million followers.
Ursula von der Leyen: European Commission President
Cynthia Marshall was the first black woman to serve as a business leader of an NBA team, appointed CEO of the Dallas Mavericks in 2018. Adweek named Marshall one of their 30 Most Powerful Women in Sports.
Before that, she was a 36-year veteran of AT&T, where she promoted inclusion and diversity. She also promotes women’s rights through her “Help A Sister Up” (HASU), philosophy.
Betsy DeVos: US Secretary of Education
Ursula von der Leyen became Germany’s first female minister of defense in 2013. In this position, she advocated more military spending to improve Germany’s defense system. Previously, much of its weaponry, including tanks, were not deployable.
She is even more famous as the president of the European Commission, the first woman elected to this prestigious position. She is also a licensed physician.
Elizabeth Warren: US Senator
President Trump appointed Betsy DeVos as the secretary of the US Department of Education in 2017. DeVos strongly supports school choice. That is, providing parents with state or federally-funded vouchers which they could use to send their children to schools of their choice, including private or charter ones. She has previously donated a lot of her own money to Christian schools.
Many Democrats and teachers’ unions opposed her nomination, claiming that school vouchers would take money from the government schools. It took the casting vote of Vice President Mike Pence to confirm her nomination. Critics also opposed her policies about sexual assault claims at universities.
Radhika Jones: Vanity Fair’s Editor-n-Chief
Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren has been a US Senator since 2012 when she beat the incumbent, Republican Scott Brown. She was the first in her family to graduate college, with a Rutgers University law degree. Before winning her Senate seat, Warren was the majority leader of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program).
Warren campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. When Clinton lost the election, Warren decided to throw her hat in the ring for 2020. Warren announced her bid in 2019 on a healthcare initiative platform (“Medicare for All”), similar to the one proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders. Warren suspended her campaign in March 2020 after disappointing numbers on Super Tuesday.
The Late Ruth Bader Ginsburg: US Supreme Court Justice
Graydon Carter had been the editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years. When Radhika Jones took over the role of editor-in-chief, she revamped the magazine for a newer generation. Jones embraced the modern world and how life has changed since the magazine’s inception.
Out were the glitzy formal covers, and in was a more subtle, contemporary style, like a leather jacket on Idris Elba, a hoodie on Kendrick Lamar, and a sweater on Michelle Williams. Reportedly, designer Donatella Versace loved the changes, telling Jones over lunch that the Williams cover represented women “in a modern world.”
Kate McKinnon: “Saturday Night Live” Cast Member
Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended Harvard Law School and was the first female Harvard Law Review member. She later transferred to Columbia Law School to follow her husband’s career, graduating in a tie for first in her class. A women’s rights advocate, Ginsburg served on the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. In 2002, the National Woman’s Hall of Fame honored her for working “her entire career to eliminate gender-based stereotyping in legislation and regulation.”
President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg first to the US Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court. She was the second woman nominated to the Supreme Court—after Sandra Day O’Connor—serving on many landmark cases. While Ginsburg passed away in September 2020, her influence on the global landscape will be felt for generations to come.
Rihanna: Musician and Businesswoman
The hit comedy sketch show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) has cast few LGBTQ+ actors. When Kate McKinnon joined the cast, she was the first gay woman since the 1980s (Danitra Vance).
McKinnon won Emmy Awards for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series (SNL) in 2016 and 2017, and she received nominations several other years. Her impersonations on SNL have drawn praise, including Hillary Clinton, who appeared together with McKinnon in the premiere episode of season 41.
Mary T. Barra: General Motors Company’s Chairman and CEO
The 2000s brought musician Rihanna high-flying success with her pop music hits. But businesswoman Rihanna has soared even higher with her Fenty lines: Fenty Beauty (makeup), Savage X Fenty (lingerie), and Fenty-LVMH (haute couture).
But things haven’t always been smooth for Rihanna. She was a domestic violence victim in her very public relationship with Chris Brown. As a result, she has strongly advocated for women’s rights, particularly those for other victims of domestic violence.
Ginni Rometty: IBM’s CEO
Mary Barra is General Motors’ first female CEO. In fact, she’s the first female to lead any major auto manufacturer. Since 2014, Barra has invested billions into electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and Maven (a now-defunct, car-sharing service).
Barra’s compensation for 2018 was almost $22 million, the highest of any of the Detroit Big Three automaker leaders. Forbes has reported that GM’s gender-equality practices rank “extraordinary” and that they have no gender pay gap.
Marillyn Hewson: Lockheed Martin’s Chairman, President, and CEO
Ginni Rometty was IMB’s first female CEO. She stepped down in April 2020, after working for IBM for more than 36 years. Rometty was at the forefront of IBM’s company conversion from tech to data.
She was also in charge of the acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion ($190/share). It was one of the largest acquisitions in IBM’s history, announced as a way to “accelerate innovation by offering a next-generation hybrid multicloud platform”.
Shonda Rhimes: Writer and Producer
Marillyn Hewson’s leadership as CEO of Lockheed Martin since 2013 has arguably made her one of the most powerful women in the world. The self-described “global security and aerospace company” employs over 100k around the world, and is the country’s largest government contractor.
Lockheed is leading the way towards the development of hypersonic weapons, breaking the barrier without a sonic boom. Lockheed stock under Hewson has been on a tailwind for years, rising more than 300%.
Sonia Sotomayor: US Supreme Court Justice
Award-winning writer and producer of television shows, Shonda Rhimes is a show running force to be reckoned with. She founded the storytelling company Shondaland, together with her partner Betsy Beers, in 2005. Shondaland is responsible for the award-winning series “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “For the People,” and “Station 19.”
Co-creator of the Times Up movement, Rhimes wants studios, agencies, and lawmakers to work together to promote gender equality. She also hopes to get legislation enacted that would include penalties for companies that fail to stop gender-based or sexual harassment.
Safra Catz: Oracle’s CEO
President Barack Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in 2009. She was the third woman—the first Latina woman—to serve on the Supreme Court.
She has heard several landmark cases, where she leans liberal in her support, including components of the Affordable Care Act and the legalization of same-sex marriage in the entire United States.
Ilhan Omar: US Congressional Representative
Safra Catz has been an executive at Oracle Corporation since 1999. Reportedly, she has closed more than 100 acquisition deals for Oracle. In 2017, TheStreet reported that Catz was the highest-paid female CEO in the US. Her reported net worth, according to Forbes, is over $1 billion.
When Oracle founder Larry Ellison stepped down, he appointed Catz and her co-president Mark Hurd as joint CEOs. Catz is also the corporation’s CFO. In September 2019, Hurd took leave to “address medical issues”, leaving Larry Ellison to fill his absence. Five weeks later, Hurd died, reportedly from cancer. That December, Ellison confirmed that Catz is now the sole CEO.
Ruth Porat: Alphabet’s CFO
Ilhan Omar was a refugee from Somalia and became the first person from that country to serve in Congress. She and Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim congresswomen. Only Omar wears a hijab, which required a Congressional rule change about headwear. Both these women are members of the so-called Squad, along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley.
Omar has been criticized for what many see as anti-Semitic and anti-patriotic comments, e.g. understating the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But her supporters claim that she is good for diversity in the American political system.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir: Prime Minister of Iceland
Ruth Porat was born in England to Jewish parents. She has been the chief financial officer of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, since 2015, reducing spending on unproductive divisions in the company.
Porat has also been outspoken against sexual harassment in the workplace. She participated in the Google Walkout for Real Change, and has also asked, “If you can get cars to self-drive, why can’t we solve this?”
Serena Williams: Professional Tennis Player
In 2017, Katrín Jakobsdóttir became the second female prime minister of Iceland. Before she became prime minister, Katrín was chairperson of the Left-Green Movement from 2013.
Katrín is a strong environmentalist who wanted Iceland to become carbon-neutral by 2040. She also opposes Iceland joining the European Union.
Audrey Gelman: The Wing’s CEO, Founder, and Political Staff Member
Serena Williams is one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. She’s won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and four Olympic gold medals. Williams’ older sister Venus is also a highly accomplished player. They have played each other many times.
Serena Williams has long been an advocate for equal pay for women and men in tennis. She was the highest-paid female athlete in 2016 and 2017.
Ivanka Trump: Former US President Trump’s Senior Advisor
Audrey Gelman is CEO (and founder) of The Wing, a co-working and hospitality space for women. Gelman is also a political staffer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign and the 2013 campaign for New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. She notably was on the front cover of Inc. Magazine in 2019 as the first visibly pregnant woman on a business magazine cover.
Despite its rapid expansion ($117.5 million as of February 2019), critics raise concerns over membership being out of many women’s financial reach. Critics also point to membership practices they say are gender-biased against men.
Michelle Obama: Co-leader of The Obama Foundation
Businesswoman and author Ivanka Trump is the daughter of former US President Donald Trump. She is also his senior advisor, an unprecedented role for someone without prior political experience. In that role, she attended political events, interacting with many political notables.
Her inexperience drew criticism, particularly concerns over her level of political power. Despite citing her adherence to all the ethics rules, the negative feedback led to her decision to shift her participation on her father’s staff to that of an unpaid federal employee.
Michelle Obama is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Practicing law in Chicago, she met her husband Barack, who was a summer intern. They became known as a power couple when her husband was first elected senator, then US president (two terms).
Obama’s focus as the first lady pivoted on poverty, health, and educational issues. Regarded as an excellent public speaker, she was lauded for her powerful speeches. Her current work is the Chicago-based nonprofit Obama Foundation she co-leads with her husband.