Top International Women
Are you familiar with the faces of the women who are at the top of businesses and states around the world? Often we find ex-secretaries amongst them who worked themselves up to the position of CEO or Chair(wo!)man, and there are even those wo started off from a life in the slums.
Last year we have presented in this section some representatives of FORBES' LIST OF MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD. We had a lot of important women from the Far East and also Russia. But with regards to last year, "THE LIST" has changed a lot. The most powerful women of Russia and China have gone without replacement, a lot have been moved to lower ranks -mostly a tribute to the global crisis.
However, Europe - which is generally quite underrepresented in the list - can be proud: the first place, now for the 4th year in a row, takes the German Chancellor, ANGELA MERKEL. The elections will show if she will be able to hold this position also next year.
One positive trend is also visible: the number of female heads of state is constantly growing: in 2007 eight women were on the Top (without Queens), 2008 it was nine, in 2009 there are ten already. Not always the same faces, but the number is growing.
Amongst those we have presented last year, only the following made their way up the ranks:
Andrea Jung
Under the leadership of Andrea Jung, CEO of the world's premier direct seller of beauty products, AVON Cosmetics, the company continues to benefit from a restructuring she implemented in 2005. Despite the down economy, Jung's leadership led Avon to report over $10 million in revenues for 2009. Jung is also engaging in social projects, like the establishment of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School, to which Avon donated $1,5 million last spring. Forbes List 2008: Rank 25
Marjorie Scardino
CEO Scardino had een the driving force behand the success and constant up-turn of Pearson's publications durin the last years. But 2009 hit the media industry quite heavily through advertising drop-off. Nevertheless Scardino, well-known for her powerful and progressive attitude says to the Guardian Newspaper "This is pretty the worst downturn I've known and it's doing great!". On Forbes' List 2008 of Most Powerful Women she is one rank up to 19.
Ursula Burns
Burns, 50, has started off as an intern with Xerox 29 years ago and is now the first woman (she followed Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox Corp. in May 2009) of the company. As President of Xerox she headed the research, product development, manufacturing and marketing operations and was also responsible for environmental operations; in 2007 Xerox was named a "Corporate Leader" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency., Forbes 2009: Rank 14
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has entered the elite ranks of the Indian business world as India's richest woman. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. Trained in Australia as a brewer, Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon in 1978 to make industrial enzymes with a small Irish company, Biocon Biochemicals. Now a top-20 global biotech company, Biocon makes drugs, including insulin and anti-cancer treatments, and its chairman is the dean of India's rapidly growing biotech industry. Donates half of her dividends to fund hospitals and a health insurance program for poor villagers. Has won the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors. "Work" is her main hobby... She is listed 92th on the Forbes' List.