How The Women On The Magazine Power List Defined 2024

Sheinbaum, 62, is the first woman to preside over the nation—the world’s 12th-largest economy—in its 200 year history as an independent country. “Many of us were told a version of history since we were children, which wanted us to believe that the course of humanity was led only by men. But little by little this vision has been reversed,” she said in her inauguration speech. “It is time for women.”

Much of the world is not getting this message. While Sheinbaum debuts on the Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women at No. 4, several would-be peers have fallen from the list’s ranks over the year: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, once No. 3, lost her bid for the American presidency and is, for now, on her way out of power. Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen (formerly No. 30) left office in May, while now-former Slovakian president Zuzana Čaputová (previously No. 84) left office in June after deciding not to run for a second term.

Meanwhile, the Reykjavík Index—a comprehensive survey of G-7 countries—finds that public confidence in female leadership across business and politics is declining. “The support of female leadership is not going to happen just because we presumed history would make the world more equal,” says Michelle Harrison, founder of the index. “Women are experiencing a series of regressive forces that make their ability to achieve and retain power harder, not easier.”

Many of the women on the 2024 Power Women list are, for the meantime, defying these trends: In May, Malina Ngai took over as Group CEO of AS Watson—the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer—and makes her Power Women list debut at No. 75. Melinda French Gates has pledged $1 billion over the next two years to advance women’s power globally; she moves to No. 8, up two spots. For the way she galvanized the world’s attention on women’s sports this year, Caitlin Clark occupies the No. 100 spot.

The 2024 Power List was determined by four main metrics: money, media, impact and spheres of influence. For political leaders, we weighed gross domestic products and populations; for corporate chiefs, revenues, valuations and employee counts were critical. Media mentions and social reach were analyzed for all.

The result: 100 women who command a collective $33 trillion in economic power and influence—by policy or by example—more than 1 billion people. Their leadership across finance, technology, media and beyond stands as a potent retort to those who question a woman’s ability to wield power. Or, as Nobel Peace Laureate and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a Forbes audience in March: “Women deserve the equity and equal opportunity because they’ve already earned it. They’ve earned it through knowledge, through education, through example, through what they are.”