The Top 10 Most Powerful Women of 2025, According to Forbes

Forbes’ 2025 list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women shows where women now hold real power – in politics, central banking, technology, and global finance.

The top ten are a mix of presidents, prime ministers and CEOs whose decisions shape economies, markets and millions of lives.

1. Ursula von der Leyen – President, European Commission

Ursula von der Leyen tops the 2025 list as the most powerful woman in the world. As President of the European Commission, she oversees laws and policies that affect more than 450 million people across the European Union. She is at the centre of decisions on Ukraine, energy security, migration, climate rules, and tech regulation, making her one of the key political figures on the global stage.

2. Christine Lagarde – President, European Central Bank

Christine Lagarde leads the European Central Bank (ECB), which sets interest rates and monetary policy for the eurozone. Her decisions influence inflation, borrowing costs and financial stability in some of the world’s largest economies. She is tasked with fighting inflation while avoiding recession and keeping Europe’s banking system stable.

3. Sanae Takaichi – Prime Minister, Japan

Sanae Takaichi is Japan’s first female prime minister. She leads the world’s fourth-largest economy and is a major security ally of the United States. Her government must deal with an aging population, competition in technology, and Japan’s role in Asian security. Her rise is also symbolic in a country where national politics has long been dominated by men.

4. Giorgia Meloni – Prime Minister, Italy

Giorgia Meloni is Italy’s first female prime minister and a leading conservative voice in Europe. She governs a G7 economy that is central to European Union politics, migration routes, and eurozone stability. Her positions on immigration, energy, EU integration, and support for Ukraine give her strong influence in European negotiations.

5. Claudia Sheinbaum – President, Mexico

Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s first female president and the first president of Jewish heritage in the country’s history. She leads Latin America’s second-largest economy and a key trading partner of the United States. Her policies on social programs, energy, security, and climate have major implications for migration, trade, and regional stability across the Americas.

6. Julie Sweet – Chair and CEO, Accenture

Julie Sweet runs Accenture, one of the world’s biggest professional services and consulting firms. The company is a major player in digital transformation, cloud computing, and AI projects for both large companies and governments. Under her leadership, Accenture helps shape how organisations adopt new technologies, manage data, and redesign work.

7. Mary Barra – CEO, General Motors

Mary Barra is the CEO of General Motors, one of the largest carmakers in the world. She has driven GM’s push into electric vehicles, batteries, and software-based services. Her decisions affect auto supply chains, factory jobs, and climate targets in North America and globally, as traditional carmakers race to compete in a cleaner, more digital vehicle market.

8. Jane Fraser – CEO and Chair, Citigroup

Jane Fraser is the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank. As CEO and chair of Citigroup, she oversees a global financial institution operating in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. She plays a key role in cross-border finance, lending to emerging markets and navigating new rules and competition in global banking.

9. Abigail Johnson – Chair and CEO, Fidelity Investments

Abigail Johnson heads Fidelity Investments, one of the largest asset managers and retirement-savings firms in the world. She oversees trillions of dollars in assets. Fidelity’s funds and platforms shape how millions of people save for retirement and invest, giving her considerable influence over stock markets, pensions, and the growth of low-cost index and digital investing.

10. Lisa Su – CEO, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, is widely credited with turning the chipmaker into a serious rival to much larger competitors. AMD now produces key processors and graphics chips used in cloud computing, gaming and artificial-intelligence workloads. In a world where semiconductors underpin everything from defence to smartphones, her strategic choices carry global weight.