We’ve all heard of the powerful men in the world, but what about women? The women who stand up to them, who fight for what they believe, and who make a difference.
Here are six women who have made it to the top of their field. And probably won’t stop until they change everything.
Table of Contents
Nancy Pelosi, US House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is one of the most powerful women in the world. She has served as a US Representative for California since 1987 and became Speaker of the House after Democrats took back control in 2019.
Pelosi strongly advocates for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and environmental issues. She was an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s policies on these issues. Which made her a target of right-wing attacks.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Union Commision
Ursula von der Leyen is the first woman to lead the European Commission.
She’s a member of the Christian Democratic Union party, one of Germany’s major political parties (along with Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union).
Ursula von der Leyen is fluent in five languages: German, French, English, Spanish and Dutch.
Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank
Christine Lagarde is the former managing director of the IMF, now president of the European Central Bank.
She was born on January 1, 1956, in Paris, France. She graduated from law school at Paris Nanterre University and became a lawyer in 1981. In 1993, she joined “the French Court of Auditors,” an independent body responsible for verifying the public accounts of France’s government institutions.
From 2004 to 2007, Lagarde served as France’s Ministry of Finance under President Jacques Chirac before being appointed by current president Emmanuel Macron as his Minister for Economy and Finance in 2017.
Mary Barra, General Motors
If you’re a woman in the business world, chances are you’ve heard of Mary Barra. She’s the CEO of General Motors and has been climbing to the top of the company since 2014 when she was appointed its first female CEO.
At 53 years old, she is also one of the youngest CEOs in GM history—a position that made her one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People for 2014.
Before becoming an auto industry leader, Barra graduated from Kettering University with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS). After graduating from college, she worked at GM as an engineer until 1992, when she joined its financial resources department, where she became vice president by 2001.
Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States
Jill Biden is currently the First Lady of the United States of America. She is a former teacher and school administrator. Jill Biden has been married to current US President Joe Biden since 1977 and has two children.
She was born on June 20, 1949, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
After graduating, she worked as a teacher and school administrator in Delaware before marrying Joe Biden. Jill Biden has been involved with several causes, including education and children’s health issues.
Greta Thunberg, climate activist
Greta Thunberg is a climate activist and Swedish schoolgirl. She has inspired millions of people across the globe to join her in strikes against climate change with the movement “Fridays for Future”. Her efforts gained international attention when she began skipping school on Fridays, protesting outside Sweden’s parliament building in August 2018.
She continued this practice for over a year, becoming an icon for school students protesting global warming. In June 2019, Thunberg became the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Women are protagonists for changing the world
Looking into the future, these six women will make an even bigger mark on the world. They will use their power, wisdom, and skill to make the world better.
As their influence grows, who knows how far they could go? Perhaps one of these women will become the most powerful person in the world.
