Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and White House adviser Ivanka Trump were named on Thursday to Forbes ‘ “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” list — an honor they have both held in previous years.
Pelosi hit number three on the power rankings list, while Trump, the president’s oldest daughter, landed at number 42.
Forbes cited Pelosi’s status as the first female speaker in the country and her role in initiating the country’s fourth-ever impeachment proceedings in U.S. history against President Donald Trump as the reason for her placement near the top of the rankings.
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi is the highest-ranking elected woman in the country and the second-in-line for the presidency.
“I would make a distinction between power and influence,” Pelosi told Forbes . “Some people have no power really, but they have tremendous influence. You know who they are.”
The California lawmaker launched the House’s impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump in September over concerns that he pressured Ukraine to investigate his perceived main political rival, former vice president Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden.
Forbes cited Trump’s role in the White House for her spot in the rankings, noting that “she helped push for the childcare tax credit passed in 2017 and the creation of a workforce apprentice program.”
Trump first landed on the Forbes power rankings list in 2017 at 19, marking the first time the wife of a sitting U.S. president was not included. Forbes editors noted that Trump had “risen as a weighty voice in the White House” while Melania Trump has “assumed a far quieter role.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the top-ranked woman for the ninth year in a row. Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist who The Inquisitr previously reported is Time’s Person of the Year for 2019, rounded out the rankings at number 100.
“[This year], from my reporting, seems to be the year of action, albeit slow action. Maybe ‘shifts’ is a better word,” said Maggie McGrath, editor of ForbesWomen .
“Change is happening; it’s happening slowly, but the women on the power list are using their power to lift up the next generation and create gender parity for all,” she added.
Each year , Forbes considers women for the rankings from the following fields: business, media, technology, finance, philanthropy and politics. Forbes looked at indicators related to hard power (money and decision-making), dynamic power (audiences and influence), and soft power (how leaders use their influence). The annual ranking also relies on four metrics: money (revenue, net worth or GDP), media mentions, impact and “spheres of influence.”
