Forbes Magazine: Michelle Obama, World’s Most Powerful Woman

Forbes magazine displayed the latest instance of its pronounced love for the transatlantic region. The journalists of this publication named the world’s most powerful women; four out of the top five were Americans. Though two of them are actually powerful, their influence is only within the borders of the United States.

Seeing this list, it is hard not to question exactly which criteria Forbes used in choosing the world’s most powerful women. Did Michelle Obama really take first place solely due to the fact that she happens to be the spouse of the White House’s resident? And why is the magazine’s leadership suddenly caving in before Barack Obama so openly and desperately?

Last year Michelle Obama was No. 40 on this list. What exactly has the First Lady done over the last 12 months? She has recommended that Americans lose weight and worked on reforms for the educational and health care systems. But these are American concerns, not global ones. So why did Michelle suddenly become the most powerful woman, not just in the U.S., but in the entire world? It seems that there is undisguised reverence toward Barack Obama.

The assignment of the second and third spots in the Forbes list also raises many questions. On what basis did Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld take second place? Earlier, Forbes magazine named her the most well-paid female executive in the U.S. But how does this fact affect her world influence? For example, did her company decide to feed all of the starving people in Africa for free? Or did she think of a way, within the framework of the U.N., to handle any of the challenges of this millennium? Or maybe she regularly gives the lion’s share of her salary to the needy in the Gaza Strip?

And is TV personality Oprah Winfrey, who is idolized only in the U.S., really worthy of third place on the Forbes list? True, she is famous around the world for her mind-boggling earnings. True, she can rivet the attention of almost all of America with her programs. But how is this related to global influence? It’s not.

It could be that the most indisputable place on the Forbes list is occupied by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She closes out the top five leaders. On the one hand, the position of the main diplomat of America is extremely important, and everything that she says has significance for domestic policy situations in many corners of the world. On the other hand, she has not yet managed to obtain one meaningful success in her position. Not one controversial issue has been decided, and no exit has been found for even one diplomatic impasse. In other words, Hillary Clinton’s fifth place quite realistically reflects her contribution to the world processes.

But Forbes clearly wronged German Chancellor Angela Merkel. For the last four years, she was the leader of similar ratings. And now there is suddenly such a collapse — only fourth place. It is possible that Forbes was simply tired of having the same name in the first slot. But after all, the Chancellor of Germany does not simply participate but almost always plays the leading role in all European and even global summits, negotiations and consultations. Moreover, many stock reports, as well as the rate of the euro or dollar, depend on what Angela Merkel thinks and says. She affects the general political atmosphere of all of Europe as a whole … even the planet as a whole.

Can her influence on the world really be compared with the (higher-ranked) American trio? Even combining them together, the three Americans barely manage to challenge the real laurels of Angela Merkel. Forbes chose not to pay attention to this detail for some reason. But what about the professional impartiality of journalists?

In the first 100 of the most powerful women, according to the Forbes release, 70 of them were Americans. There were no Russians among the first 100. Elizabeth II achieved a modest place at No. 41. But the scandalous singer Lady Gaga was No. 7.

Direct Speech

Anna Fedyakina

Moira Forbes, Vice President and Publisher of ForbesWoman:

“The women on our list, through their respective realms of power and influence, are shaping many of the agenda-setting conversations of our day and have become dynamic catalysts for driving change across the world. They have built companies and brands, sometimes by non-traditional means, and they have broken through gender barriers in areas of commerce, politics, sports and media and cultural zeitgeist, and thereby affecting the lives of millions, sometimes billions of people.”