# Who is the most powerful woman in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386 "2010-10-07T17:37:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/61 "2010-10-10T08:25:38Z")
UK interest rates are heavily influenced by event in Europe, and particularly what Germany does. From there, it is not a great walk to see how international money markets can be influenced. The toxic debts in Greece, and the austerity measures in France are influenced with the requirement for certain financial standards, and it seems to be Germany that is effectively the policeman for this, since it has the money to set many of the terms and conditions. I’m sure that France would dearly love to please its own citizens more, especially in the light of the recent protests, however it is adhering to standards which were set down some time ago, and which are tightening up ever more, and German is a huge player in this. Angela Merkal therefore has to be considered the most powerful woman around, if she were to change her governments policy, the effects would hit the markets around the globe. Don’t forget that a large part of the investment in Eastern Europe is coming from Germany too so Germany is likely to become more important, especially when companies are outsourcing. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/62 "2010-10-10T12:00:46Z")
Who is the most powerful is a matter of who or what a person means by powerful; there can be many powerful women or men,it is a matter of who does the survey. Many are also well known because of the press they get. To me it is a matter of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/63 "2010-10-10T12:01:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It always stymies me when people vote for performers or celebrities in these sorts of polls (regardless of Bono, whom I’ve always found to be overrated). For what it’s worth, though, Oprah isn’t just a celebrity with a big following; ignore what she says in the magazines she publishes and the television show she hosts, and ignore the 24-hour-a-day radio station featuring contributors from both; ignore the leadership academy she set up in Africa, ignore that she’s calling the shots at Harpo Productions to get films like THE GREAT DEBATERS or PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH made – and ignore the book club that routinely makes the novel of her choice into a bestseller, at that. Ignore all of that and she’s a multibillionaire – who just _ **happens** _ to have all that other stuff at her disposal whenever she wants to play charity fundraiser or advocate for a cause, whenever she can’t accomplish something with her personal wealth. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/64 "2010-10-10T12:49:03Z")
I’m surprised Angela Merkel is even contested in this thread. It doesn’t matter how much money Oprah has or how many books she has sold. It doesn’t matter that Michelle can whisper in Barack’s ear. Merkel is chancellor of Germany. She is the most powerful, period. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/65 "2010-10-10T13:23:09Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [snip] > > Ignore all of that and she’s a multibillionaire – who just _ **happens** _ to have all that other stuff at her disposal whenever she wants to play charity fundraiser or advocate for a cause, whenever she can’t accomplish something with her personal wealth. Germany provides 7.5 _billion_ in economic aid in a given year: they have a budget of 1.6 _trillion_. If Angela Merkel controls even 1% of that–hell, half of one percent of that–she controls many times more money in a year than Oprah has earned in her lifetime. Individual wealth just can’t be compared to the major economies of the world. Plus, I’d rather have Merkel/Germany on my side in a war than Oprah. ETA: [Cite](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/66 "2010-10-10T14:20:54Z")
Let’s say Oprah gets some completely crazy nutso idea in her head. What is the most damage she could do? Probably not much. People would just stop listening to her. Power is more than just having access to an audience. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/67 "2010-10-10T15:09:26Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > but I don’t think anyone mentioned in this thread has anything like the power that most men have. Possession of the remote control? C’mon, these women are way more powerful than most men. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/68 "2010-10-10T15:31:57Z")
Jean Grey, if she has the Phoenix force. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/69 "2010-10-10T16:29:16Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > > [@NineToTheSky](#): > > > > but I don’t think anyone mentioned in this thread has anything like the power that most men have. > > Possession of the remote control? C’mon, these women are way more powerful than most men. In this household _I_ am master of the remote. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/70 "2010-10-10T16:38:08Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Let’s say Oprah gets some completely crazy nutso idea in her head. What is the most damage she could do? _[ahem](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/04/oprah-drinks-the-antivax-kool-aid/)_ Still, I suspect the whole antivax movement is still less damaging than the Luftwaffe. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/71 "2010-10-10T19:00:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If we’re talking about the entire world and not just North America, Europe and Australia, which is what many people mean when they say “the entire world” (as I always like to point out), then Oprah probably comes up a wash. I doubt anyone in Thailand or the neighboring countries has even heard of her. The only times I ever seem to hear anything about her myself is reading this Board. Yep, Oprah is a nobody in almost the rest of the world. More people have heard of Bill Gates than they have heard of Oprah outside the US, and he has more money. > [@MEBuckner](#): > > Angela Merkel is Chancellor of Germany, the country with the fifth largest national economy in the world (and, to go by more old-fashioned views of “powerful”, has the sixth-largest defense budget). My vote too, followed by Hillary Clinton and followed by the various female presidents, prime ministers, chancellors and whatevers of the world. > [@NineToTheSky](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > Angela Merkel. Not even a question. > > In Germany? Yes. The EC? Certainly. The USA, China, Japan, India? I don’t think so. But what if she decides she’d _really_ like to redecorate Poland. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/72 "2010-10-11T04:07:27Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > > It always stymies me when people vote for performers or celebrities in these sorts of polls (regardless of Bono, whom I’ve always found to be overrated). > > For what it’s worth, though, Oprah isn’t just a celebrity with a big following; ignore what she says in the magazines she publishes and the television show she hosts, and ignore the 24-hour-a-day radio station featuring contributors from both; ignore the leadership academy she set up in Africa, ignore that she’s calling the shots at Harpo Productions to get films like THE GREAT DEBATERS or PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH made – and ignore the book club that routinely makes the novel of her choice into a bestseller, at that. > > Ignore all of that and she’s a multibillionaire – who just _ **happens** _ to have all that other stuff at her disposal whenever she wants to play charity fundraiser or advocate for a cause, whenever she can’t accomplish something with her personal wealth. I can and do ignore all of that with ease, because all of that, except for some little academy in Africa, is completely domestic in the US and never makes the news over here. Except for some scandal involving the academy; that did make the news, I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386/73 "2010-10-11T11:59:13Z")
I guess it depends on your definition of power. Does Spell Casting Ability count? Because if it does, there’s that candidate from Delaware that… **poof!** _Re-deep. Re-deep._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-world/556386.md?page=3)