Clinton is 36th most powerful woman in the world

Mon, 08/24/2009 - 11:38am

Hillary Clinton, July 27, 2009 | SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Forbes magazine has ranked Secretary Clinton as the 36th most powerful woman in the world.

Forbes states that the rankings are based on "a combination of two scores: visibility -- by press mentions -- and the size of the organization or country these women lead." If Clinton had received more press coverage, then she would likely have been ranked even higher.

The rankings don't seem to incorporate how much global influence these women have -- which would be a strong indicator of how "powerful" they really are. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ranked No. 35, but how much global influence does she have, given that this is a list of the most powerful women in the world?

Further, check out how Clinton's rankings have varied through the years:

2008: No. 28

2007: No. 25

2006: No. 18

2005: No. 26

2004: No. 5

Could Clinton, as U.S. secretary of state, traveling the world as the United States' top diplomat, really be so much less relatively powerful this year as she was in 2004, when the then-senator was No. 5 in the world?

Understandably, measuring global influence would be subjective and tricky. At the end of the day, every ranking is going to have its methodological weaknesses. (And that goes for FP rankings, too, such as the recent Failed States Index, which received a critique in the July/August issue.)

Women in government who were in the top 50 this year:

1. Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany

2. Sheila Bair, chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Co.

11. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, president of Argentina

13. Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress party

17. Christine Lagarde, France's minister of economy, finance, and employment

22. Michelle Bachelet, president of Chile

35. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

36. Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. secretary of state

40. Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States (technically not a government position)

44. Gloria Arroyo, president of the Philippines

47. Yulia Tymoshenko, prime minister of Ukraine

48. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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Any poll that places Nancy

by Carolyn-Rodham on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 6:00pm

Any poll that places Nancy Pelosi ahead of Hillary -- if only by one spot -- on a list of the world's most powerful women is deeply flawed.

In June, Gallup reported that Nancy Pelosi's favorability ratings among AMERICANS had slipped below Dick Cheney's (34% versus 37%). She may have traveled to 16 countries as Speaker, but she can hardly be said to wield any influence abroad. Hillary visited 82 countries during the eight years of her husband's administration, and as SOS has visited many countries in Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan, Russia, India, Mexico, and most recently seven countries in Africa. She has enjoyed great popularity abroad for the past 15 years.

Carolyn- Agreed. Also, any

by stacyx on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 3:32pm

Carolyn- Agreed. Also, any poll that previously placed Laura Bush at #4, is intrinsically flawed. Too much importance is placed on the Forbes list and with respect to Hillary's ranking at 36, it is simply being used to continue the media's tired theme about Secretary Clinton having no power, being marginalized, etc.

The media just simply cannot accept that they are utterly disappointed that their whole "gang of rivals" scenario didn't pan out- I think they were hoping that Clinton and Obama would continue their sharp-elbowed debates/disagreements on the public stage as though they were still candidates but the fact is, Clinton is too professional for that and there is a big difference between being a candidate for President and being SOS. What don't the media understand about that?

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