MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Merkel and Brazil’s Rousseff the most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes

Angela Merkel and Dilma Rousseff

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes's list of the world's most powerful women for the third consecutive year, followed by Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, the magazine said on Wednesday. Cristina Fernandez from Argentina dropped ten places and now stands in position 26.

Dilma Rousseff who was third for two consecutive years climbed to second position after Hillary Clinton stepped down from her post as Secretary of State.

They were followed by Melinda Gates - who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her billionaire philanthropist husband, and US First Lady Michelle Obama and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton take places four and five.

Forbes underlines that President Rousseff with her emphasis on private enterprise has inspired a new generation of undertakings, even when she is criticized for “favouring development policies over humanitarian concerns (environment)”. Rousseff who took office in January 2011 was in position 93 three years ago.

Regarding Merkel, the magazine says she has become the backbone of the European Union and “carries the burden of the Euro on her back”

The annual list includes influential women in global politics, business, media, entertainment, technology and non-profits - ranking them by “money, media presence and impact,” according to the business magazine.

Another Brazilian figure among the top-twenty list: Petrobras CEO Graças Silva Foster which stands in position 18, having climbed from 20 last year.

“The rise of personal brands and entrepreneurial endeavours among this year's Power Women are exciting trends as we mark our 10th year of publishing the list,” said Moira Forbes, president and publisher of ForbesWoman.

Technological and internet corporations CEOs figure in the list: Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook, in position 6; Virginia Rometty, from IBM, 12; Ursula Burns, Xerox, 14; Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard, 15 and Marissa Mayer from Yahoo! in position 32.

The 24 CEOs responsible for corporations’ managed a combined turnover of 893 billion dollars in 2012. In the ranking www.forbes.com/power-women figure representatives from 26 different nationalities with a clear dominance from the US 100 most powerful women in the world have 153 million combined followers in Twitter.

The youngest woman in the list is the eccentric US singer Lady Gaga (27) and in position 45 while the oldest is Queen Elizabeth, 87 ranked 40.