Below you can find the list of top 5 most influential women to watch in 2021. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive list, please see the 13 Most Influential Women To Watch in 2021.
5. Angela Merkel
Average points: 53
Country: Germany
Category: Politics & Policy
Education: Doctorate, Leipzig University; Master of Science, Leipzig University
She was born in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1954. Her father was a Lutheran pastor, while his mother taught English. She studied physics and physical chemistry at the university, and later earned a doctorate on quantum chemistry in 1986. She was the Minister for Women and Youth between 1991 and 1994, then the Minister for Environment between 1994 and 1998, and the General Secretary of the CDU between 1998 and 2000. In 2005 she became the first woman Chancellor of Germany and is having her fourth term. In November, 2018 she announced not to stand for election as a chancellor in 2021.
4. Christine Lagarde
Average points: 53
Country: France
Category: Politics & Policy
Education: Master of Arts, Institut d’etudes politiques d’Aix-en-Provence
She was born in 1956 in a family of teachers, as her mother was a French, Greek and Laton teacher, while her father was a professor of English language. As a teenager she was a member of the national synchronized swimming team, and in 1973 she got a scholarship to Holton-Arms School, Maryland. Later, in Paris she earned a master’s degree in English, social law and labor law. She became France’s Trade Minister between 2005 and May 2007, and the first woman to be the head of the European Central Bank in 2019.
3. Melinda Gates
Average points: 57
Country: United States
Category: Philanthropy
Education: Bachelor of Arts/Science, Duke University; Master of Business Administration, Fuqua School of Business
Up on the list of the most influential women in the world, Melinda Gates stands on the third spot. She was born in 1964, and was a former manager of Microsoft. In 2000, she and her husband, Bill Gates established the world’s largest private charitable foundation, with a trust endowment of $40 billion. She is involved in philanthropy, and in many burning questions of the world such as education, poverty among others.
2. Nancy Pelosi
Average points: 59
Country: United States
Category: Politics & Policy
Education: Bachelor of Arts/Science, Trinity Washington University
Nancy Pelosi stands on the second spot of the most influential women to watch in 2021. She was born in 1940, to an Italian-American family. Her father was a Democratic congressman from Maryland, and Pelosi became interested in politics at a very early age. After graduating from Institute of Notre Dame, in 1962 she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political sciences. She started her pre-speakership career in 1988, and between 2007 and 2011 she held the position of her first speakership.
1. Kamala Harris
Average points: 68
Country: United States
Category: Politics & Policy
Kamala Harris tops the list of the top 5 most influential women to watch in 2021. She was born in Oakland by Indian mother and a Jamaican father. In 2010, she was appointed to be the first Indian-American to serve as California’s attorney general. Six years later, in 2016 she was elected to be the first Indian-American senator in the United States Senate. And as of 2020, Harris became the first woman vice president in the history of the United States of America.
You can also take a peek at 10 Most Influential Black People in American History and 20 Richest People in the World.
