Top 10 powerful women in the World 2012, 2011, 2010, top 10 women in world, List of top 10 woman in world 2011, 2010, Forbes listing of top 10 women world, Top 10 powerful women in the World 2009, Top 10 Women across World

Top 10 Most powerful ladies in the World 2012, 2011, 2010

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Rank	Name	Age	Country	Category
1	Angela Merkel Chancellor, Germany	58	Germany	Politics
2	Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, United States	64	United States	Politics
3	Dilma Rousseff President, Brazil	64	Brazil	Politics
4	Melinda Gates Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	48	United States	Humanitarian
5	Jill Abramson Executive Editor, New York Times Co.	58	United States	Media
6	Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress, India	65	India	Politics
7	Michelle Obama First Lady, United States	48	United States	Politics
8	Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund	56	France	Humanitarian
9	Janet Napolitano Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States	54	United States	Politics
10	Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook	43	United States	Technology

source: www.forbes.com
Brief about them

1) Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (born Angela Dorothea Kasner, 17 July 1954, in Hamburg, West Germany), is the Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 9 April 2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005. She leads a Grand coalition with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the 2005 federal election on 22 November 2005.In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chair of the G8. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been the major issues of her tenure.Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. She is considered by Forbes Magazine to be the "most powerful woman in the world at the present time". In 2007 she became the second woman to chair the G8 after Margaret Thatcher.Chancellor Merkel is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

2) Sheila C. Bair Sheila Colleen Bair (born April 3, 1954) is the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). She was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006. Bair will also serve as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors through July 2013. In 2008 Forbes ranked her as the second most powerful woman in the world behind German chancellor Angela Merkel. Forbes described her FDIC office as "the last stop for capital-starved banks (and their insured customers) before going under."Bair is a native of Independence, Kansas. Her father, Albert, was a surgeon. Her mother, Clara, was a nurse and a homemaker.She received her bachelor's degree from University of Kansas. In 1978, she received a J.D. from University of Kansas School of Law.

3) Indira Nooyi Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born October 28, 1955 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is the chairwoman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, the world's fourth-largest food and beverage company.On August 14, 2006, Nooyi was named the successor to Steven Reinemund as chief executive officer of the company.She was effectively appointed as CEO by PepsiCo's board of directors on October 1, 2006.According to the polls Forbes magazine conducted, Nooyi ranks third on the 2008 list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.Nooyi has been named the #1 Most Powerful Business Woman in the world in 2006 and 2007 by Fortune magazine.In 2008, Nooyi was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report.

4) Angela Braly Angela Braly (born 1962 in Dallas, Texas) is president and chief executive officer for WellPoint, Inc. and a member of the company's board of directors. She assumed those responsibilities June 1, 2007, following several high-profile roles for the company.Prior to her current position, Braly served as executive vice president, general counsel and chief public affairs officer for WellPoint. In that role, she was responsible for public policy development, government relations, legal affairs, corporate communications, marketing, and social responsibility initiatives. She also had operational responsibility for the nation's largest Medicare claims processing business and the federal employee health benefits business. Ms. Braly was also a key strategist during WellPoint's acquisition of New-York based WellChoice in 2005.In January 1999, Braly joined the company as general counsel for RightCHOICE (currently Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri). She also oversaw the Missouri plan's government relations efforts. During that time, she managed the legal strategy resulting in the creation of The Missouri Foundation for Health, which serves the health care needs of underinsured and uninsured people in Missouri. She later became president and CEO of the Missouri plan, managing all aspects of the business and setting strategies to meet customer needs.Prior to that, Braly was a partner in the St. Louis law firm of Lewis, Rice & Fingersh, L.C.

5) Cynthia Carroll Cynthia Carroll (b. 1948) is an American businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer of Anglo American PLC, a London, UK mining company, which, among other things, is the world's largest platinum producer.On October 24, 2006, Carroll was hired by Anglo American, and joined the board in January 2007, becoming chief executive at the beginning of March 2007. She is one of only three female Chief Executives of FTSE 100 companies and the first non-South African to hold the post with Anglo American. Carroll previously worked with the Montreal, Canada headquartered Alcan, as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Metal Group since 2002. She joined Alcan in 1989. In January 1996, she was promoted to managing director of the Aughinish Alumina division, located on Aughinish Island, Askeaton, County, Limerick, Ireland.[5] Before joining Alcan, she worked for Amoco, which is now part of British Petroleum, for eight years as a petroleum geologist, from 1982 to 1987, working in gas and oil exploration in Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana.She is married with four children.

6) Irene Rosenfeld Irene Rosenfeld is the Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods Inc.Irene Rosenfeld was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Foods in June 2006. She assumed the additional post of Chairman in March 2007, following Altria Group’s spin-off of Kraft. Irene is a 25-year veteran of the food and beverage industry and has a long history of bringing a consumer focus and innovation to building businesses. She began her career at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in New York and later joined General Foods in consumer research. Over the years, she advanced in a variety of leadership roles at Kraft. Among her many accomplishments, she led the restructuring and turnaround of key businesses in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the highly successful integration of the Nabisco acquisition. Irene also served on the senior team that led Kraft’s Initial Public Offering in 2001.In 2004, Irene was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, where she led her organization to accelerated growth in better-for-you products and developed a pipeline of health and wellness offerings. Irene is active in a number of industry and community organizations, including The Economic Club of Chicago. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

7) Condoleezza Rice Advising the leader of the world's largest superpower and having the ear of leaders around the globe makes Rice, 49, the most powerful woman in the world. Forbes magazine As national security adviser and trusted aide to the world's most powerful man, Condoleezza Rice has guided President George W Bush through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and their sometimes unexpected fallout.Rice's influence over the new administration's early foreign policy strategy has been considerable. 'She led the tricky negotiations with Russia (her academic specialisation) over missile defence, and is thought to have spearheaded the unilateralist tone of the first months of the Bush presidency,' BBC pointed out. 'Her uncompromising positions on missile defence, Russia, and the environment won respect, but helped build the European caricature of the new president as toxic troglodyte.'According to Forbes, Rice says her "parents had me absolutely convinced that, well, you may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth's, but you can be president of the United States."

8) Ho Ching Ho Ching and the Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings (over US$100 billion in assets and owned by Singapore's Ministry of Finance) and the wife of the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong (son of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew). Ms Ho is also a Cantonese Singaporean.Ms Ho graduated from the University of Singapore in 1976 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical, First Class Honours) after completing her pre-university education at National Junior College where she emerged as a Student of the Year and was a President's Scholar. She graduated from Crescent Girls' School. She also holds a Master of Science (Electrical) from Stanford University, USA.[1] In 1995, Ms Ho was conferred the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore. She is the eldest child of four children of retired businessman Ho Eng Hong and Chan Chiew Ping. In 17 December 1985, she married Lee Hsien Loong,[1] who later became Singapore's third Prime Minister in August 2004.Ms Ho is Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. She began her career as an engineer with the Ministry of Defence.In 1987, she joined the Singapore Technologies group as Deputy Director of Engineering, and became its President and Chief Executive Officer before retiring in 2001. She later joined Temasek Holdings in May 2002.

9) Anne Lauvergeon Anne Lauvergeon (born August 2, 1959 in Dijon, Côte-d'Or, France), is a French businesswoman, and president of Areva. In 2008, she was ranked by the magazine Forbes as the ninth-most powerful woman in the world, third-most in Europe and most powerful in France. In 1978 she enrolled in the École Normale Supérieure, taking the Agrégation in physics before joining the Corps de Mines. In 1983 she enrolled in her first training course with the Corps de Mines, in the iron and steel industry, at Usinor. A second training course, in 1984, took place with the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique, where she studied chemical safety in Europe. From 1985 to 1988, she was with the l'Inspection générale des carrières (IGC). In 1990, she was placed in charge of the mission for the international economy and foreign trade by French President François Mitterrand. The following year, she became assistant secretary general. She was then named “sherpa”, i.e. personal representative to the president, and charged with preparing international meetings such as the G7 summit. In 1995, she joined the banking sector, and became a managing partner of Lazard. In March 1997, she was named general director of Alcatel, before becoming part of the group's executive committee.

10) Anne M. Mulcahy Anne M. Mulcahy (born October 21, 1952) is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation, which is based in Norwalk, Conn. She was named CEO of Xerox on Aug. 1, 2001, and chairman on Jan. 1, 2002. In addition to the Xerox board, she has been a member of the boards of directors of Catalyst, Citigroup Inc., Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. and Target Corporation.The Wall Street Journal named Mulcahy one of 50 women to watch in 2005 and Forbes Magazine ranked her at the sixth position among the Most Powerful Women in America in 2005. In 2008, she was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's Best Leaders.She has been selected as ‘CEO of the Year 2008' by Chief Executive magazine.

Other Promising Ladies are Wu Yi As the highest ranking female member of China's politburo, a vice premier and minister of health, Wu Yi (pronounced Woo Yee) is the most powerful woman in China. -- Forbes ."China's Iron Lady" earned her reputation as a tough negotiator when she was minister for foreign trade and economic cooperation, particularly for her handling of talks with the US on trade and intellectual rights. She also played a crucial role in China's entry into the World Trade Organisation. Wu, who holds a degree in petroleum engineering, was named health minister after the SARS crisis began. She then launched a successful crusade to stem the spread of the disease and eventually control it. Surprisingly, says Forbes, Wu Yi never envisioned a life in politics. "In my youth, I never developed a desire to enter politics. My biggest wish was to become a great entrepreneur," she once said.

Sonia Gandhi No other woman in recent times has been more widely revered in India than Gandhi, 57. -- Forbes Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's widow stunned the world by refusing the post after the Congress emerged as India's single largest party in the general election in May. Nicknamed 'the Sphinx' for her stoic demeanour and silence after the assassination of her husband in 1991, the Italy-born Sonia Gandhi assumed, some say reluctantly, the reins of the Congress in 1998 following fervent appeals from party stalwarts. Though similar appeals failed to change her decision to decline the country's top job, no one has any doubt about who controls the ruling party and hence the world's largest democracy. 'Now that her chosen successor, Sikh economist Manmohan Singh, has been given the job, Gandhi gets to reign over her beloved country anyway -- without having to take responsibility for any mistakes the government might make,' Forbes noted.

Michelle Obama Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Obama, current President-elect of the United States and former Senator from Illinois. She will be the first African-American to become the First Lady of the United States.She was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, and subsequently worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.Michelle Obama is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University.

Hillary Rodham Clinton The first former First Lady to be elected to the US Senate and the first New York senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hillary Rodham Clinton won the hearts of many with her public support for her husband after the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Her book It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us (1996) was a bestseller, and she received a Grammy Award for her recording of it.Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2008 election.