Forbes released its first ever 'World's Most Powerful People' list featuring US President, Barack Obama on the top.
Even though the list raised a few eyebrows and invited a few gasps by featuring terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Dawood Ibhrahim, it is not surprising that there are barely any women on the list that ranks 67 people in the world based on power.
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and popular Talk show host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey are the only three women who made it to the world power list.
There is no doubt that these three women deserve to be on the list. However, are there only three women on the planet who would make the cut among 64 other powerful men?
Almost everyone knows the answer to this - No. Few other women who are on par with the men and women on the list include Aung San Suu Kyi, Indra Nooyi and Carol Bartz.
A Theravadin Buddhist by faith and a Nobel Prize recipient, Suu Kyi has stood by Democracy in Myanmar and contines be detained by thr military junta to hold her back from power.
While Indra Nooyi as the CEO of Pepsico successfully directs the world's largest food and beverage companies; Carol Bartz, the CEO of Internet major Yahoo single-handedly kept the company alive during the economic slump.
However, it is not the lack of women in power that created the gender gap in the power list, it is the concept and criteria of what is and what defines 'power'.
"Am I supposed to be surprised that women don't have power?," said Anju Christine, a MA (Literature) student.
The concept of power doesn't accomodate or acknowledge women. Since times immemorial, woman has felt the struggle to express feminist thoughts in masculine words and to make space for 'her' identity in 'his' world.
"The list reflects the fact that we are still not open to accepting women in power positions and thereby fail to acknowledge those in these positions of influence. This in turn results in under representation in such lists," contended Ashwini BJ, a student of MSc (Psychology).
This brings to light the need to appreciate women for the power they project through a different kind of influence. There doesn't need to be change in parameters as it would hamper the foundation of equality, but there needs to be a shift in perspective, achieving which many more powerful women would surface on such lists.
Tags: forbes, hillary clinton, angela merkel, oprah winfrey, suu kyi, carol bartz, indra nooyi, pepsico, yahoo, feminism, samyuktha k.
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