Women are steering the systems that will define the next decade. As the 2025 Forbes Power Women list demonstrates, their influence across technology, finance and politics is both deep and global, yet the highest tiers of power remain selectively guarded.
Power concentrates where the world is being rebuilt. This year’s Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women captures women at the centre, directing capital that determines AI’s trajectory, managing supply chains governments compete to secure, and steadying institutions under historic pressure. In interconnected systems, their decisions determine which countries and corporations maintain strategic advantage and which fall behind. Yet despite wielding influence at unprecedented scale, access to the highest tier remains narrow. This list reveals both where women hold power and where it stops.
In technology, women’s power concentrates at the most critical points. Artificial intelligence has triggered the largest infrastructure buildout in modern corporate history, more than $400 billion in annual spending by S&P 500 tech companies, and power has migrated to those who control that capacity. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD (No. 10), controls a semiconductor bottleneck that determines the pace of the global AI ecosystem. Her decisions influence whether frontier AI companies can meet the expectations they’ve set for investors and governments.
A similar concentration of authority appears at four of the “Magnificent Seven,” the handful of U.S. tech giants whose scale now drives global equity markets and sets the direction of technological progress. Ruth Porat (No. 12), president and Chief Investment Officer at Alphabet, and CFOs Colette Kress at Nvidia (No. 37), Susan Li at Meta (No. 41), and Amy Hood at Microsoft (No. 16) oversee more than $8 trillion in combined market value. Their decisions set the tempo of AI’s expansion, determining the speed, the direction, and the stability of the next decade of technology globally.
As the AI arms race intensifies, Anthropic cofounder and president Daniela Amodei (No. 73, a newcomer to the list), became a self-made billionaire as her company reached a $183 billion valuation—one of the few women holding both founding equity and executive authority in a frontier AI company. Sarah Friar (No. 50), CFO of OpenAI, manages capital at the company that ignited the competition. Equity stakes are creating substantial wealth for women who reach these positions, yet access to the positions themselves—particularly founding roles—remains constrained.
Political authority reveals how technology infrastructure has become a question of national survival. Sanae Takaichi (No. 3) became Japan’s first female prime minister in October, governing a $4.2 trillion economy at a moment when semiconductor security, defense realignment, and demographic pressure converge. All of these decisions will shape East Asian power dynamics and global manufacturing stability.
The pattern extends across continents facing structural pressure: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (No. 1) and European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde (No. 2) navigate Europe’s overlapping crises where energy, defense, and monetary policy determine whether the continent coheres or fractures. Nearshoring puts Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum (No. 5) at the center of North America’s manufacturing transformation. The scramble for rare earth minerals elevates leaders like Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (No. 79), the prime minister of resource-rich Namibia. Women govern only 3 of the world’s top 25 economies, yet they lead at inflection points that will determine geopolitical order.
Finance operates as a different kind of leverage. Jane Fraser (No. 8), CEO and Chair of Citi, consolidated authority during a period of restructuring and volatility. Tan Su Shan (No. 29 and a newcomer) is the Group CEO at DBS, shaping credit access across one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. Tarciana Medeiros (No. 18), President and CEO of Banco do Brasil, oversees the institution underwriting much of Latin America’s agricultural economy and export engine. These women determine whether capital flows or stalls, decisions that directly affect whether economies expand or contract.
In industry, women manage the infrastructure governments rely on but cannot run themselves. SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell (No. 20) keeps the systems behind defense and global connectivity functioning. The list also captures an underrecognized shift: cultural authority becoming an economic engine. Kim Kardashian, a newcomer (No. 71), raised $225 million for Skims at a $5 billion valuation and launched NikeSKIMS with Nike, showing how cultural influence can scale like a global brand. And the women of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters (this year’s No. 100) command a fan base that extends beyond the traditional boundaries of age, gender and country and have dominated the cultural zeitgeist in 2025. They succeed for the same reason as others on the list: They control their audiences directly.
This year’s list captures a pivotal truth: Women are steering the systems that will define the next decade, yet the highest tiers of power remain selectively guarded. Their influence is deep, structural, and global, but the architecture of control still lags behind their impact. Whether the world moves toward genuine shared leadership or continues to rely on women to stabilise institutions they do not fully command will shape the next chapter of power.
The World’s Most Powerful Women: 2025
Rank | Name | Title | Organisation | Category | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ursula von der Leyen | President, European Commission | European Union | Politics & Policy | Belgium |
2 | Christine Lagarde | President | European Central Bank | Politics & Policy | Germany |
3 | Sanae Takaichi | Prime Minister | Japan | Politics & Policy | Japan |
4 | Giorgia Meloni | Prime Minister | Italy | Politics & Policy | Italy |
5 | Claudia Sheinbaum | President | Mexico | Politics & Policy | Mexico |
6 | Julie Sweet | Chair & CEO | Accenture | Business | United States |
7 | Mary Barra | CEO | General Motors | Business | United States |
8 | Jane Fraser | CEO & Chair | Citi | Finance | United States |
9 | Abigail Johnson | Chairman & CEO | Fidelity Investments | Finance | United States |
10 | Lisa Su | CEO | AMD | Technology | United States |
11 | MacKenzie Scott | Philanthropist | Yield Giving | Philanthropy | United States |
12 | Ruth Porat | President & CIO | Alphabet | Technology | United States |
13 | Melinda French Gates | Founder | Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation | Philanthropy | United States |
14 | Gail Boudreaux | CEO | Elevance | Business | United States |
15 | Ana Patricia Botín | Executive Chairman | Santander | Finance | Spain |
16 | Amy Hood | Executive Vice President & CFO | Microsoft | Technology | United States |
17 | Kristalina Georgieva | Managing Director | IMF | Politics & Policy | United States |
18 | Tarciana Paula Gomes Medeiros | President and CEO | Banco de Brasil | Finance | Brazil |
19 | Catherine MacGregor | CEO | ENGIE | Business | France |
20 | Gwynne Shotwell | President & COO | SpaceX | Technology | United States |
21 | Taylor Swift | Musician | Media & Entertainment | United States | |
22 | Laurene Powell Jobs | Founder | Emerson Collective | Philanthropy | United States |
23 | Gunjan Kedia | President & CEO | U.S. Bank | Finance | United States |
24 | Nirmala Sitharaman | Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs | India | Politics & Policy | India |
25 | Kathryn McLay | CEO | Walmart International | Business | United States |
26 | Carol Tomé | CEO | UPS | Business | United States |
27 | Phebe Novakovic | CEO | General Dynamics | Business | United States |
28 | Marianne Lake | CEO, Consumer & Community Banking | JPMorganChase | Finance | United States |
29 | Tan Su Shan | CEO | DBS | Finance | Singapore |
30 | Oprah Winfrey | Entrepreneur, Personality, Philanthropist | Media & Entertainment | United States | |
31 | Sarah London | CEO | Centene | Business | United States |
32 | Sandy Ran Xu | CEO | JD.com | Business | China |
33 | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter | Musician | Media & Entertainment | United States | |
34 | Ho Ching | Chair | Temasek Trust | Finance | Singapore |
35 | Dana Walden | Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment | The Walt Disney | Media & Entertainment | United States |
36 | Thasunda Brown Duckett | CEO | TIAA | Finance | United States |
37 | Colette Kress | Executive Vice President & CFO | NVIDIA | Technology | United States |
38 | Kathy Warden | Chairman, President & CEO | Northrop Grumman | Business | United States |
39 | Rachel Reeves | Chancellor of the Exchequer | United Kingdom | Politics & Policy | United Kingdom |
40 | Mary Callahan Erdoes | CEO, Asset Management | JPMorganChase | Finance | United States |
41 | Susan Li | CFO | Meta | Technology | United States |
42 | Estelle Brachlianoff | CEO | Veolia | Business | France |
43 | Jennifer Piepszak | COO | JPMorganChase | Finance | United States |
44 | Janet Truncale | Global CEO | EY | Business | United States |
45 | Adena Friedman | Chair & CEO | NASDAQ | Finance | United States |
46 | Lynn Martin | President, NYSE Group; Chair, ICE Fixed Income and Data Services | New York Stock Exchange | Finance | United States |
47 | Julie Gao | CFO | ByteDance | Technology | China |
48 | Amanda Blanc | CEO | Aviva | Business | United Kingdom |
49 | Margherita Della Valle | CEO | Vodafone | Business | United Kingdom |
50 | Sarah Friar | CFO | Open AI | Technology | United States |
51 | Wang Laichun | Co-Founder & Chairwoman | Luxshare-ICT | Technology | China |
52 | Gina Rinehart | Executive Chairman | Hancock Prospecting | Business | Australia |
53 | Michele Bullock | Governor | Reserve Bank of Australia | Politics & Policy | Australia |
54 | Judy Faulkner | Founder & CEO | Epic Systems | Technology | United States |
55 | Yie-Hsin Hung | President and CEO | State Street Investment Management | Finance | United States |
56 | Tricia Griffith | President & CEO | The Progressive | Business | United States |
57 | Donna Langley | Chairman, NBCUniversal Studio Group & Chief Content Officer | NBCUniversal | Media & Entertainment | United States |
58 | Shemara Wikramanayake | CEO & Managing Director | Macquarie Group Limited | Finance | Australia |
59 | Vicki Hollub | President and CEO | Occidental Petroleum | Business | United States |
60 | Bela Bajaria | Chief Content Officer | Netflix | Media & Entertainment | United States |
61 | Bonnie Chan | CEO | Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing | Finance | Hong Kong |
62 | Suzanne Scott | CEO | Fox News | Media & Entertainment | United States |
63 | Jenny Johnson | CEO | Franklin Templeton | Finance | United States |
64 | Jayshree Ullal | CEO | Arista | Entrepreneurs | United States |
65 | Hana Al Rostamani | Group CEO | First Abu Dhabi Bank | Finance | United Arab Emirates |
66 | Susie Wiles | White House Chief of Staff | Politics & Policy | United States | |
67 | Sinead Gorman | CFO | Royal Dutch Shell | Business | United Kingdom |
68 | Joey Wat | CEO | Yum China Holdings | Business | China |
69 | Melanie Kreis | CFO | Deutsche Post DHL Group | Business | Germany |
70 | Claudine Adamo | COO, Merchandising | Costco | Business | United States |
71 | Kim Kardashian | Cofounder | Skims | Media & Entertainment | United States |
72 | Paula Santilli | CEO | Pepsico Latin America Foods | Business | Mexico |
73 | Daniela Amodei | Cofounder & President | Anthropic | Technology | United States |
74 | Mary Vilakazi | CEO | FirstRand Group | Finance | South Africa |
75 | Malina Ngai | Group CEO | AS Watson | Business | Hong Kong |
76 | Roshni Nadar Malhotra | CEO HCL Corporation & Chairperson | HCL Technologies | Technology | India |
77 | Belén Garijo | CEO | Merck KGaA | Business | Germany |
78 | Judith Suminwa Tuluka | Prime Minister | Politics & Policy | Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
79 | Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah | President | Politics & Policy | Namibia | |
80 | Bari Weiss | Editor-In-Chief | CBS News | Media & Entertainment | United States |
81 | Inga Ruginiene | Prime Minister | Politics & Policy | Lithuania | |
82 | Robyn Grew | CEO | Man Group | Finance | United Kingdom |
83 | Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw | Founder, Chair And Managing Director | Biocon | Business | India |
84 | Mette Frederiksen | Prime Minister | Politics & Policy | Denmark | |
85 | Anna Borg | CEO | Vattenfall | Business | Sweden |
86 | Blanca Treviño | Cofounder, President & CEO | Softtek | Technology | Mexico |
87 | Solina Chau | Director | Li Ka Shing Foundation | Philanthropy | Hong Kong |
88 | Mary Meeker | Founder | Bond Capital | Finance | United States |
89 | Mpumi Madisa | CEO | Bidvest | Business | South Africa |
90 | Lee Boo-jin | President and CEO | Hotel Shilla | Business | South Korea |
91 | Choi Soo-yeon | CEO | Naver | Business | South Korea |
92 | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Director-General | World Trade Organization | Politics & Policy | Nigeria |
93 | Melanie Perkins | Co-Founder & CEO | Canva | Business | Australia |
94 | Dominique Senequier | Founder & CEO | Ardian | Finance | France |
95 | Raja Easa Al Gurg | Group MD & Chairperson | Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group | Business | United Arab Emirates |
96 | Jenny Lee | Senior Managing Partner | Granite Asia | Finance | Singapore |
97 | Kirsten Green | Founder | Forerunner Ventures | Finance | United States |
98 | Mo Abudu | Media Mogul, Philanthropist, Founder | EbonyLife Media | Media & Entertainment | Nigeria |
99 | Mia Mottley | Prime Minister | Politics & Policy | Barbados | |
100 | The Women of KPOP Demon Hunters | Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation | Media & Entertainment |
This list was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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