Forbes has released its 2012 list of the world’s 100 most powerful women and 3 African women made the list. All the women who made it to the list are politicians. The highest ranked among them is Joyce Banda, the president of Malawi, followed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and finally Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia.
ALSO SEE: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Is Forbes’ 83rd Most Powerful Woman In The World.
The List
71: Joyce Banda – Joyce Banda President, Malawi
Joyce Banda unexpectedly became Malawi’s first female president in April this year after the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika.
Since she became President, Banda has continued to stay fast to her convictions, selling the multi-million dollar presidential jet, calling for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir if he enters Malawi.
She has been involved in children and women’s rights since the 90’s, founding the Joyce Banda Foundation International in 1997 which has guided projects from empowering market women to providing orphans education, as well as the National Association of Business Women in Malawi and the Young Women’s Leadership Network.
81. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Minister of Finance, Nigeria
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as Nigeria’s minister of finance in 2011 by president Goodluck Jonathan. Before her political appointment, she was the managing director and the second-in-command in World Bank.
Earlier this year, she was among the candidates short-listed to lead the World Bank. Jim Yong Kim won the position, but many say Okonjo-Iweala was by far the most qualified candidate.
This is the second time Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed to work at the Nigerian ministry of finance. Her first time was from 2003 to 2006 under the leadership of by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
82. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – President, Liberia
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman to be elected as a president in Africa and she is currently serving her second term. In 2011, she was given a Nobel Peace Prize awarded for her work in exploring, exposing and atoning for Liberia’s history of civil conflict.
Educated at Harvard University as an academic economist, Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1972 to assume a position in the Ministry of Finance. But after clashes with her bosses, and a military coup in 1980, she began work as an economist at the World Bank in the U.S. From there, Sirleaf returned to Africa to work in the regional offices of Citibank, before taking over the regional office of the United Nations Development Programme, where she was involved in investigating the United Nations’ failure to respond to the Rwandan genocide.
To see the full list, visit Forbes.