Ladies Home Jornal List
edit| 30 most powerful women in early 21st century America | ||||
| Rank | Name | Score card | Quote from magazine | |
| 1 |  |
Cultural clout: 100 Financial impact: 90 Achievement: 90 Visibility: 95 Power to influence: 95 Intellectual impact: 85 Political know-how: 50 Staying power: 85 Total score: 90 |
To her largely female audience, she is still everybody's best girlfriend. That's the kind of power no one can challenge. | |
| 2 |
Cultural clout: 80 Financial impact: 100 Achievement: 95 Visibility: 40 Power to influence: 80 Intellectual impact: 90 Political know-how: 95 Staying power: 90 Total score: 84 |
But her extraordinary power comes largely from her role on a divided court -- with O'Connor often casting the deciding vote. | ||
| 3 |  |
Cultural clout: 75 Financial impact: 70 Achievement: 80 Visibility: 70 Power to influence: 90 Intellectual impact: 15 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 75 Total score: 65 |
She's produced 27 books, selling 9.5 million copies, publishes one magazine (and a number of spin-offs) with a combined circulation of around 10 million, runs a Web site, writes the widely syndicated "Ask Martha" column, has TV and radio shows, orchestrated retail deals that bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, and still finds time to star in Kmart ads. | |
| 4 |  |
Cultural clout: 70 Financial impact: 40 Achievement: 90 Visibility: 95 Power to influence: 20 Intellectual impact: 30 Political know-how: 60 Staying power: 100 Total score: 64 |
With four decades in television behind her, Barbara Walters, 70, paved the way for generations of journalists. | |
| 5 |  |
Cultural clout: 75 Financial impact: 30 Achievement: 75 Visibility: 90 Power to influence: 20 Intellectual impact: 40 Political know-how: 100 Staying power: 80 Total score: 63 |
Whatever Hillary Rodham Clinton, 54, does next, she's already made history as the first First Lady to parlay that role into that of an elected official. | |
| 6 | J.K. Rowling |
Cultural clout: 85 Financial impact: 50 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 20 Power to influence: 100 Intellectual impact: 80 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 50 Total score: 62 |
She may be British, but Joanne Kathleen (J.K.) Rowling, 36, is a superpower in the U.S., celebrated for getting American children reading again with her better-than-best-selling Harry Potter books (there are more than 100 million copies in print in 42 languages, as well as an upcoming movie). | |
| 7 |  |
Cultural clout: 45 Financial impact: 50 Achievement: 90 Visibility: 30 Power to influence: 50 Intellectual impact: 75 Political know-how: 90 Staying power: 80 Total score: 61 |
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 68, the Supreme Court's other woman, has been a lifelong advocate for women's rights. | |
| 8 |  |
Cultural clout: 80 Financial impact: 35 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 90 Power to influence: 65 Intellectual impact: 20 Political know-how: 45 Staying power: 70 Total score: 60 | She has the kind of power conferred by the combination of visibility, respect and an ability to communicate warmth -- not to mention a salary that's reportedly $7 million a year.
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| 9 | Cultural clout: 80 Financial impact: 60 Achievement: 50 Visibility: 75 Power to influence: 80 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 20 Total score: 55 | When Spears became Pepsi's celebrity spokesperson earlier this year, she crossed from teen culture to American culture. | ||
| 10 | Meg Whitman | Cultural clout: 65 Financial impact: 80 Achievement: 80 Visibility: 20 Power to influence: 40 Intellectual impact: 30 Political know-how: 20 Staying power: 40 Total score: 54 | It's been a rough year for Meg Whitman, 45, president and CEO of online auction service eBay, but her company has managed to navigate the dot meltdown and isn't just still standing -- it's growing. | |
| 11 |  |
Cultural clout: 70 Financial impact: 50 Achievement: 55 Visibility: 80 Power to influence: 50 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 15 Staying power: 60 Total score: 53 |
Her agreement to star in a film can get any project off the ground. | |
| 12 | MTV president Judith McGrath | Cultural clout: 75 Financial impact: 60 Achievement: 45 Visibility: 15 Power to influence: 70 Intellectual impact: 30 Political know-how: 35 Staying power: 40 Total score: 52 | MTV showed its reach with the network's campaigns to get out the vote in the early 1990s, reportedly helping to register a million young voters.
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| 13 | Cultural clout: 55 Financial impact: 40 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 100 Power to influence: 40 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 25 Staying power: 75 Total score: 51 | Seventeen years after Madonna broke onto the scene with her first hit single, "Like A Virgin," the 42-year-old still sells out concerts (most recently her "Drowned World Tour" ), is a major influence in the fashion biz, and creates controversy wherever she goes.
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| 14 |  |
Cultural clout: 40 Financial impact: 15 Achievement: 100 Visibility: 50 Power to influence: 20 Intellectual impact: 50 Political know-how: 95 Staying power: 50 Total score: 50 | Condoleezza Rice, 47, the first woman ever to hold the position of National Security Adviser, exerts an influence on President George W. Bush that extends well beyond foreign-policy issues. | |
| 15 | Diane Sawyer | Cultural clout: 60 Financial impact: 20 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 80 Power to influence: 35 Intellectual impact: 20 Political know-how: 45 Staying power: 70 Total score: 49 | Now co-host of both Good Morning America (GMA) and PrimeTime Live, Diane Sawyer, 55, is one of the most watched women in television, described as the savior of GMA when she joined the early-morning show in 1999. | |
| 16 | Cultural clout: 55 Financial impact: 65 Achievement: 70 Visibility: 20 Power to influence: 40 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 20 Staying power: 70 Total score: 48 | Sherry Lansing, 57, has long been considered the most influential woman in Hollywood.
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| 17 | Cultural clout: 35 Financial impact: 90 Achievement: 90 Visibility: 20 Power to influence: 35 Intellectual impact: 20 Political know-how: 30 Staying power: 20 Total score: 47 | In early September, HP announced plans to buy Compaq Computer Corp. Fiorina will reportedly remain CEO of the combined company, whose annual revenues are expected to top $87 billion.
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| 18 | Andrea Jung | Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 65 Achievement: 85 Visibility: 25 Power to influence: 65 Intellectual impact: 20 Political know-how: 20 Staying power: 45 Total score: 46 | As the CEO of Avon, Andrea Jung, 43, joins Carleton Fiorina as a female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, presiding over an $11 billion firm. | |
| 19 | Patty Stonesifer | Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 75 Achievement: 30 Visibility: 10 Power to influence: 50 Intellectual impact: 60 Political know-how: 50 Staying power: 80 Total score: 45
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As the gatekeeper (and co-chair) of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the most richly endowed philanthropic organization in the world, Patty Stonesifer, 45, is considered the most powerful woman in nonprofits. | |
| 20 |  |
Cultural clout: 65 Financial impact: 40 Achievement: 50 Visibility: 70 Power to influence: 40 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 15 Staying power: 20 Total score: 44 | A crossover artist who has topped the country and pop music charts, Faith Hill, 34, recently finished a sold-out tour with husband, singer Tim McGraw, has won three Grammys, has four platinum albums and has endorsements with Pepsi and Cover Girl. | |
| 21 |
Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 60 Achievement: 70 Visibility: 30 Power to influence: 30 Intellectual impact: 25 Political know-how: 40 Staying power: 60 Total score: 43 |
As Goldman, Sach's chief investment strategist, Joseph Cohen still moves the market. | ||
| 22 |  |
Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 45 Achievement: 65 Visibility: 45 Power to influence: 10 Intellectual impact: 30 Political know-how: 90 Staying power: 40 Total score: 42 |
Time magazine has described her as "the adviser closest to Bush." | |
| 23 | Danielle Steel |
Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 40 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 40 Power to influence: 10 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 75 Staying power: 90 Total score: 41 |
Though her steamy potboilers about the rich and famous are never popular with literary critics, she nonetheless holds the title of First Lady of Romantic Fiction. | |
| 24 |
Cultural clout: 40 Financial impact: 20 Achievement: 30 Visibility: 70 Power to influence: 10 Intellectual impact: 35 Political know-how: 50 Staying power: 90 Total score: 40 |
Now that it is up to her alone to carry on the legacy of her father and mother, this Harvard and Columbia-educated constitutional lawyer and author is becoming more of a presence on the national scene. | ||
| 25 |  |
Cultural clout: 25 Financial impact: 40 Achievement: 80 Visibility: 60 Power to influence: 45 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 30 Total score: 39 |
With back-to-back Wimbledon tennis titles to her name -- not to mention the 2000 women's U.S. Open title and two gold medals from the Sydney Olympics, 20-year-old Venus Williams carries a lot of clout. | |
| 26 |  |
Cultural clout: 40 Financial impact: 10 Achievement: 30 Visibility: 70 Power to influence: 35 Intellectual impact: 20 Political know-how: 80 Staying power: 50 Total score: 38 |
She's powerful, but not a powerbroker, which is exactly the way she wants it. | |
| 27 | Maya Angelou | Cultural clout: 30 Financial impact: 5 Achievement: 75 Visibility: 20 Power to influence: 15 Intellectual impact: 75 Political know-how: 15 Staying power: 70 Total score: 37 | Less visible than many on our list, Angelou remains a potent moral and intellectual voice.
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| 28 |  |
Cultural clout: 25 Financial impact: 30 Achievement: 60 Visibility: 10 Power to influence: 15 Intellectual impact: 25 Political know-how: 85 Staying power: 70 Total score: 36 |
Her friendship with her state's former governor, the current president of the U.S., adds to her standing inside the Beltway. | |
| 29 | Toni Morrison |
Cultural clout: 15 Financial impact: 10 Achievement: 80 Visibility: 5 Power to influence: 10 Intellectual impact: 100 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 75 Total score: 35 |
Morrison has drawn untold numbers of readers into the communities she has created and into the African-American experience, always raising issues that are easier pushed aside. | |
| 30 |  |
Cultural clout: 50 Financial impact: 25 Achievement: 35 Visibility: 60 Power to influence: 35 Intellectual impact: 10 Political know-how: 10 Staying power: 20 Total score: 34 |
She may yet have staying power, but she's got to be around a few more years before we know for sure.
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