International Women’s Day: Meet the 5 Most Powerful Women in the World
Tuesday’ March 8 marks the celebration of International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women.
To celebrate the strength of the enterprising and strong females in society, Naija FM has compiled a list of the most powerful women in the world.
The strength of these women can be witnessed in their careers and achievements where they have gone on to achieve unbelievable things.
5. Melinda French Gates
Coming in at number 5 of this powerful women list is no other than billionaire philanthropist, Melinda French Gates.
Melinda, the former computer scientist, and general manager at Microsoft is co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Since the establishment of the foundation in 2000, billions have been distributed to combat disease and poverty in developing countries.
Despite last year’s divorce from Bill Gates, Melinda has made it known that she intends to distribute much of her fortune across philanthropic endeavors.
4. Mary Barra
Mary Barra is an American Businesswoman and the CEO of General Motors since 2014.
Under her watch, General Motors has developed into one of America’s biggest automakers, with billions invested in electric motors and self-driving vehicles.
Barra has made a great contribution to gender equity, by ensuring that GM has no gender pay gap (one of two global businesses to achieve this feat).
3. Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde is the 3rd on the list of the most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes’s annual report.
Lagarde became the first woman to hold the European Central Bank when she became the president in 2019.
Before this role, the French politician and lawyer was also the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, where she ensured the stability of the global monetary system.
As the head of European monetary policy, she has ensured that the coronavirus pandemic did not wreak havoc on the Eurozone.
During the 2008 financial crisis, she called for gender reform after pointing to “groupthink” in the industry dominated by males.
2. Kamala Harris
In January 2021, Kamala Harris made history when she was sworn in as the vice president of the United States. She became the first woman, first black person, and first South-Asian-American to hold this post.
Along with several other “firsts”, she was the first Indian-American to be elected to the United States Senate when she was elected in 2016.
In addition to that, Harris is the first African-American and first woman to serve as the attorney general of California.
1. MacKenzie Scott
Topping the list of the most powerful women in the world is no other than MacKenzie Scott(formerly Bezos), the ex-wife of Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
Following a divorce in 2019, MacKenzie received 25% of Besos’s stake in Amazon, making her the richest woman in the world.
Shortly after acquiring her wealth in 2019, she signed the giving pledge, promising to give away at least half of her fortune over her lifetime.
In 2020, she announced a $5.8 billion donation in gifts to non-to 500 profit organizations. In 2021, another $2.74 billion was donated to 286 non-profits.
McKenzie is known for applying the “no-strings-attached” style of giving, which means that she doesn’t control how the donations are spent.
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