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Most Powerful Women in the World 2012

The following table lists the most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes. The women range from presidents to divas, CEOs to a mining tycoon.

Rank	Name	Title	Category
1.	Angela Merkel	Chancellor of Germany	politics
2.	Hillary Clinton	U.S. Secretary of State	politics
3.	Dilma Rousseff	President of Brazil	politics
4.	Melinda Gates	Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	humanitarian
5.	Jill Abramson	Executive Editor, New York Times Co.	media
6.	Sonia Gandhi	President of Indian National Congress, India	politics
7.	Michelle Obama	First Lady, United States	politics
8.	Christine Lagarde	Managing Director, International Monetary Fund	humanitarian
9.	Janet Napolitano	Secretary, Department of Homeland Security	politics
10.	Sheryl Sandberg	COO, Facebook	technology
11.	Oprah Winfrey	Entrepreneur, Personality	celebrity
12.	Indra Nooyi	Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo	business
13.	Irene Rosenfeld	Chairman and CEO, Kraft Foods	business
14.	Lady Gaga	Musician, Philanthropist	celebrity
15.	Virginia Rometty	President and CEO, IBM	technology
16.	Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner	President, Argentina	politics
17.	Ursula Burns	Chairman and CEO, Xerox	technology
18.	Meg Whitman	CEO, Hewlett-Packard	technology
19.	Aung San Suu Kyi	Chair and Parliamentarian, National League for Democracy, Burma	politics
20.	Maria das Graças Silva Foster	CEO, Petrobras-Petróleo Brazil	business

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Most Powerful Women in the World 2012 - The following table lists the most powerful women in the world including Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Lady GaGa and Oprah Winfrey.