- Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi, born Sonia Antonia Maino on December 9, 1946, is an Italian-born Indian politician, the President of the Indian National Congress and the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. She is the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha, and the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
- Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush (born November 4, 1946) is the wife of U.S. President George W. Bush and is thereby the First Lady of the United States.
- Ho Ching
Ho Ching is the CEO of Temasek Holdings (over US$50 billion in assets and owned by Singapore's Ministry of Finance) and the wife of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong (son of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew). Temasek Holdings purchased Shin Corporation in 2006 from Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted by coup soon after on allegations of corruption.
- Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, pressed the committee on Sunday to begin investigating and make a preliminary report within 10 days. She demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.
- Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. However, she is more directly involved with the United Kingdom, where the Royal Family resides, and the Monarchy is historically indigenous. Apart from the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, …
- Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born February 26, 1950) became Prime Minister of New Zealand in December 1999 and entered her third successive term in that office in 2005. As of 2006, she is ranked by "Forbes" magazine as the 20th most powerful woman in the world.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining the Court, she was a professor at Rutgers University School of Law, Newark School of Law and Columbia Law School, a litigator for the American Civil Liberties Union, and a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. During much of her life, she has been active in the women's rights movement, …
- Patricia Russo
Patricia Russo (born in 1953, in Trenton, New Jersey) is the current chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world's largest manufacturing firms. Lucent was a spin-off from AT&T of its Systems and Technology units (AT&T Technologies, Inc., the former Western Electric), and the manufacturing and research and development operations, including Bell Laboratories.
- Indra K. Nooyi
Indra Nooyi is named President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo and is elected to the Board of Directors.
- Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (born December 24, 1943, in Helsinki, Finland) is the President of Finland. She began her first term of office in 2000 and was re-elected on January 29, 2006. Her current term expires in 2012. She is the eleventh President of Finland and the first woman to hold the office. She married her long time cohabitator, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, after she was elected President for the first term.
- Katie Couric
Katherine Anne Couric (born January 7, 1957) is an American media personality who became well-known as co-host of NBC's "Today". In 2006, she made a highly publicized move from NBC to CBS, and on September 5, 2006 she became the first woman to solo-anchor the weekday evening news on one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC).
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi ; born 19 June 1945 in Yangon (Rangoon), is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. A Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and in 1991 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship.
- Michèle Alliot-Marie
Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie is the French Minister of the Interior and Overseas territories, and the first woman to lead a major French political party. She is the first woman to become Minister of the Interior and Overseas territories. She was minister of defence in Jacques Chirac's cabinet. Born in Villeneuve-le-Roi in the Val-de-Marne, her father was Bernard Marie, the Mayor of Biarritz.
- Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde (born 1 January 1956) is the current Minister of Finance of France, appointed in June 2007. She was previously Minister of Agriculture and Fishing and Minister of Trade in the government of Dominique de Villepin. Lagarde was the first woman ever to ever become finance minister of a [G8] economy. Previous to her appointment as Minister of Finance, Lagarde was ranked the 30th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine.
- Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour, CBE (born January 12, 1958) (in) is the chief international correspondent for CNN.
- Colleen Barrett
Colleen Barrett is the current President and Corporate Secretary of Southwest Airlines. She has been with the company since its inception in 1971. Since March of that year she has served as Secretary of the Corporation, as Vice President Administration from 1986 through 1990, and Executive Vice President from 1990 through 2001. Barrett has been consistently named and recognized as one of the most powerful American businesswomen.
- Meg Whitman
Another dreamy CEO choice, except she has already been a big company CEO at eBay (EBAY), has proved her mettle in building it to a powerhouse-despite the online auction site's currently harder times-and has the giant fortune to prove it. And, oh yes, she is likely to be using that pile of cash to run for governor of California, on the Republican ticket.
- Marjorie Scardino
Dame Marjorie Morris Scardino, DBE, FRSA, (born 25 January 1947) is a non-executive director of Nokia and former CEO of the Economist Group. She became the first female Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed CEO of Pearson PLC in 1997 Scardino is a graduate of Baylor University and the University of San Francisco School of Law and the winner of the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal. Before 1985 she was the editor of the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, …
- Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America," along with Robin Roberts. In 2001 she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by "Ladies Home Journal".
- Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo , President of the Philippines
- Christie Hefner
Christie Hefner sits atop the legendary media empire created by her Army Veteran father by applying business acumen and leadership amid great change in the publishing industry. She's also garnered seniority status in corporate America as one of America's longest-surviving CEOs, and is counted among the Forbes 100 most powerful women.
- Meredith Vieira
Meredith Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an Emmy Award-winning American television personality, game show hostess and journalist. She currently co-hosts NBC's "Today". She previously co-hosted ABC's daytime talk show "The View" (from 1997 to 2006), and is currently the host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in syndication. She also hosted " Intimate Portrait," a series on Lifetime Television.
- Amy Pascal
Amy Pascal (born 1958) is Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group and Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. She was listed as number one on the 15th (2006) annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 list published by the Hollywood Reporter.
- Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (1938- ) is president of Liberia and the first elected female president of any African nation. After Johnson-Sirleaf obtained her master's degree in public administration from Harvard University, she worked in financial management for the Liberian government, eventually ascending to the post of finance minister in the Liberian Cabinet in the 1970s.
- Safra A. Catz
Safra A. Catz (born 1961 in Holon, Israel) has been the Chief Financial Officer of Oracle Corporation since November 2005. She has also been a President of the company since January 2004 and a member of the company's Board of Directors since October 2001. She has been at Oracle Corporation since April 1999. Prior to joining Oracle, Catz was at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a global investment bank, …
- Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia (born 15 August 1945) was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, the first woman in the country's history to hold that position, and then again from 2001 to 2006. She is the widow of assassinated President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman, and leads his old party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. After 35 years of independence of Bangladesh she has ruled the country for about 10 years (longest period).
- Luisa Diogo
Luísa Dias Diogo has been prime minister of Mozambique since February 2004. She replaced Pascoal Mocumbi, who had been prime minister for the previous nine years. Before becoming prime minister she was minister of planning and finance, and she continued to hold that post until February 2005. She is the first female to be prime minister of Mozambique. Luisa Diogo represents the party FRELIMO, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975.
- Portia Simpson-Miller
Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller, ON, MP (born 12 December 1945 in Wood Hall, St. Catherine Parish) is, since 30 March 2006, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. She replaced outgoing Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, becoming the first female head of government of the nation and the third in the Anglophone Caribbean following Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Janet Jagan of Guyana. She also holds the position of president of the ruling People's National Party.
- Dora Bakoyannis
Dora Bakoyannis (née Mitsotakis) is a Greek politician, the current Greek Foreign Affairs Minister and former Mayor of Athens. She was the first woman mayor of Athens and is the first woman to serve as Greek Foreign Affairs Minister which makes her the first woman ever appointed to a senior cabinet position in Greece. She is currently the highest ranking woman in the history of the Greek Government.
- Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Of Jordan
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, is the queen consort of King Abdullah II of Jordan.
- Neelie Kroes
Neelie Kroes (born July 19, 1941 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland) is a Dutch politician and businessperson. Neelie Kroes was a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Later she was the Dutch State Secretary and Minister of Transport and Water Management. Neelie Kroes was member of the board of commissioners of several multinationals. She currently is the Dutch European Commissioner for Competition.
- Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese , President of Ireland
- Clara Furse
Clara Furse , chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is the latest celebrant of the vulnerability of U.S. financial markets. She�s author of �Taking AIM at Small Caps,� Wall Street Journal , January 30, 2007, p. A17. �In the last 12 months, the U.S. capital markets have started to take a serious interest in AIM, the London Stock Exchange�s market for smaller, growing companies.
- Judy McGrath
Judy McGrath, (born 1952 in Scranton, Pennsylvania)) is the current CEO of MTV Networks. Channels she directs include, other than the music channels, MTV, MTV2, and VH-1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and TV Land. She Lives in a small house in New York City. She is working to broaden MTV's reach, with a planned MTV site in Africa. McGrath is a graduate of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Judy lives in New York and has a daughter named Anna.
- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is a fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman to hold both of these positions. She served as finance minister from July 2003 until her appointment as foreign minister in June 2006.
- Margaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South. She served in government under Tony Blair, becoming the first woman to hold the office of Foreign Secretary (the second of only three women to have held one of the Great Offices of State). She was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994 and was briefly its Leader in 1994.
- Linda Cook
Linda Zarda Cook, an American CEO of Shell Gas & Power, part of Royal Dutch Shell, in London and later in Canada. The first of a very few female leaders in the male dominated oil industries. She has been recognized as one of the world's leading female entrepreneurs in the recent years. Ms.
- Gail Berman
Gail Berman (born August 17, 1956) is the former president of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company and the former president of Viacom's Paramount Pictures. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 1978. With a college friend, Susan Rose,she co-produced the Broadway productions of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (1982), "Almost an Eagle" (1982), "Hurlyburly" (1984), "Blood Knot" (1985), and "The Nerd" (1987).
- Antonia Ax:son Johnson
Antonia Margaret Axelson Johnson is a Swedish businesswoman. She is the richest woman and one of the richest people in Sweden, according to the magazine "Veckans Affärer" good for 20 billions SEK as of 2006. Ax:son Johnson is the daughter of Axel Ax:son Johnson Jr. In 1982 she succeeded her father as chair of A. Johnson & Co., a diversified trading company founded by her great-grandfather in 1873.
- Tzipi Livni
Tzipora Malka "Tzipi" Livni (born July 8 1958 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is Foreign Affairs Minister, Acting Prime Minister of Israel, and a leading member of the Kadima party. Following the March 2006 Knesset election and the subsequent negotations for formation of Israel's 31st Government, some observers believed that Livni had emerged as "the second most powerful politician in Israel," after Ehud Olmert.