Top 10 Most Influential Women in the World 2021

Photo: Forbes

1. Jacinda Ardern - Prime Minister of New Zealand (2017 –)

Photo: Getty Images

There’s something about Jacinda Ardern. It’s not just that she was the world’s youngest head of state when she was first elected Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017, or that she is a new mum – youth and maternal instincts are only a small part of her appeal.

Instead, she’s been lauded as a new kind of leader, or ‘the anti-Trump’, for the traits she chooses to exhibit every day – empathy, authenticity, tolerance and kindness. But while she might lead from a place of emotion, she is always decisive and strong in her decision-making. From her quick response of locking down the country at the start of the pandemic, to her steely resolve to not name the perpetrator of the Christchurch Massacre, Ardern never wavers in times of crisis.

She is not without faults, and has many critics at home, especially for her failed attempts at solving housing affordability and child poverty, but her calm and effective leadership meant she was elected for a second term in a landslide victory in October. Ardern knows how to rally her ‘troops’, calm their fears and get the job of the day done – she often thanked her ‘team of five million’ in 2020. She may be a leader only suited for ‘troubled times’, but isn’t that just the type of leader needed in the years ahead?

Most notable achievement: Within a month of the Christchurch Massacre that killed 51 people, Arden led Parliament in banning most assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons across the country.

2. Naomi Osaka - Four-time Grand Slam Champion

Photo: Getty Images

With the recent police brutality causing widespread protests in the United States, numerous athletes have used their respective sports to not just raise awareness but also support victims who have been affected by the countless shootings. One of these athletes is tennis superstar Naomi Osaka who had also experienced firsthand racial abuse in her home country of Japan. She is an African American born to a Black American father and a Japanese mother.

Although she has become one of tennis’ most accomplished names (four-time Grand Slam champion and recently becoming the highest-paid female athlete in history), Osaka has never shied away from speaking about issues on racial and gender inequality. During the 2020 US Open, she honored seven victims of the police shootings by wearing different face masks with the victims’ names embossed on each mask.

3. Kamala Harris, vice president

Photo: Getty Images

Kamala Harris made history in August 2020 as the first woman and first Black and South Asian woman to accept the vice-presidential nomination alongside former Vice President Joe Biden. Harris, a United States senator for California, also previously served as the attorney general of California. She was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2021.

After being confirmed as vice president-elect on November 7, Kamala Harris addressed the nation from Wilmington, Delaware, saying, "While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities."

Harris also spoke out against the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol in January 2021 and the police response, saying, "We witnessed two systems of justice when we saw one that let extremists storm the United States Capitol, and another that released tear gas on peaceful protesters last summer ...We know this is unacceptable. We know we should be better than this."

4. Jill Biden, first lady

Photo: AP News

After Joe Biden was confirmed as president of the United States on January 20, Jill Biden took her place as the first lady. Jill Biden previously served as the second lady under the Obama administration and has worked as an educator throughout her life — a role she will continue even when she moves to the White House.

Her areas of interest as the second lady included working with and advocating for military families, highlighting the importance of community college education, and women's issues ranging from breast cancer prevention and gender equality in the United States and abroad.

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5. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Photo: Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi entered politics in 1987 after winning a special election in California's eighth congressional district, which includes San Francisco. In 2002, Pelosi was chosen to be the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives.

In 2006, after Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate, Pelosi became speaker of the House. She was a critic of President George W. Bush's stance on the war in Iraq and a proponent of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

In 2010, the Democrats lost the House and Pelosi became minority leader once again. In January 2019, the Democrats regained control of the House and Pelosi was reinstated as speaker. Pelosi became a vocal critic of President Trump and led the impeachment trial against him.

On January 3, 2021, Pelosi was re-elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives by a narrow 216-209 vote.

6. Ozlem Tureci - BioNTech Chief Medical Officer

Photo: Getty Images

As the world slowly heals from a devastating pandemic, two companies have been credited for launching the very first COVID vaccine which has not just limited the virus from spreading further but also prevented the deaths of potentially thousands more people around the globe. BioNTech, in partnership with Pfizer, successfully developed a vaccine in late 2020 which was immediately approved by the US and UK FDAs for massive rollout. Ozlem Tureci is the chief medical officer of Germany-based BioNTech who oversaw the development of the historic vaccine which still has the highest efficacy rate (95%) among all COVID vaccines.

7. Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer

Photo: The Journal News

The race to find the first effective and safe vaccine for coronavirus captured the nation's attention in 2020, and one of the most powerful players in the search for the vaccine was none other than Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer.

Beginning in March 2020, Jansen led a team of 650 experts, in collaboration with German startup BioNTech, to develop a successful vaccine against COVID-19.

"She's exactly who you want in that position. She fights for the vaccines she thinks are important," Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said, according to STAT. "People who think pharmaceutical companies are evil should spend time with people like Kathrin Jansen."

8. Queen Elizabeth II, monarch of the United Kingdom

Photo: USA Today

As the longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II has held a place of power on the world stage for over 65 years. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey, when she was just 27. For the first time, the coronation was broadcast globally.

Queen Elizabeth has four children — Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. Charles was made the Queen's official successor in 1969 after he was granted the title of the Prince of Wales. Queen Elizabeth II is currently 94 years old, and though the monarchy does not typically interfere with political matters, the Queen meets regularly with her prime ministers.

9. Susan Wojcicki - YouTube CEO

Photo: Time Magazine

YouTube is no longer simply a video streaming platform. It has grown to become a social media platform where users can connect with each other through their favorite videos. Unfortunately, as seen with other social media apps users are prone to spread misinformation through the commenting and sharing of biased, questionable, and inaccurate videos. YouTube has been made aware of these issues and has made great strides in curbing misinformation in the past few years. Recently, the company removed more than 800,000 videos relating to dangerous or misleading information about the Coronavirus.

The woman at the helm of YouTube’s massive security campaign is its CEO Susan Wojcicki. She had been with the company since the very beginning, becoming one of Google’s very first employees and was the person that led Google’s $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006. After the acquisition, Wojcicki was named chief executive officer and has held the position ever since. As YouTube’s top executive, Wojcicki has been always determined to make YouTube a positive and safe environment for all of its users, including making drastic changes to its hateful content policies in 2019. This led to the removal of 100,000 videos, 17,000 channels, and 500 million comments by the end of the same year.

10. Radhika Jones - Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Getty Images

In 2020, U.S. fashion magazine Vanity Fair broke a record-high for new monthly subscriptions twice and ended the year with the largest audience of any publisher in the country. One reason why the long-running magazine has even managed to find greater success particularly in the previous year is because of its editor-in-chief Radhika Jones who easily belongs to the list of influential women in the realm of fashion.

Amidst the political turmoil the U.S. experienced in 2020 aside from the country struggling to initially contain the Coronavirus pandemic, Jones used Vanity Fair as a platform to raise awareness among its readers. One example was a portrait of Breonna Taylor which was the cover of the magazine’s September 2020 issue. Taylor was a Black medical worker who was fatally shot by police officers at her home in Louisville, Kentucky last March. By the time Taylor was chosen as Vanity Fair’s main feature, the magazine had already seen a 43% increase of people of color gracing the magazine’s cover since 2017, the same time Jones was appointed as editor-in-chief. Despite Jones making a big gamble on highlighting social and political issues in a fashion magazine, the majority of readers still responded positively which has resulted in the Vanity Fair having one of its most successful years in recent memory.

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