Prime Minister Julia Gillard has outranked mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and Westpac CEO Gail Kelly in Forbes’ 2012 list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.
Only three Australians made the cut, with Gillard coming in at #27, Rinehart at #35 and Kelly at #60. Interestingly, much of Gillard’s short Forbes power profile was occupied by her party’s difficulties in dealing with “waves of asylum-seekers”.
No Australian could outrank the likes of Lady Gaga at #14. But then neither could the Queen, who came in just under Gillard at #26
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took out the top spot for the second year in a row as the “Iron Lady” of Europe. She was followed on the list by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Brazil President Dilma Rousseff.
Gillard was just one of eight heads of state to make the list. There were 27 CEOs (seven on the list for the first time) ten celebrities and a large number of entrepreneurs.