Sanae Takaichi, Japan's prime minister, speaks during a budget committee session at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. -- Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
TOKYO (Bernama-Kyodo): Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was ranked the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine on Wednesday as the United States publication announced its list of the top 100 influential women for 2025.
Japan's first female premier ranked behind Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde, while Takaichi's Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni was placed fourth.
In announcing its 22nd annual ranking, Forbes said women on the list "represent a new chapter in global leadership, one defined by boundary-pushing innovation, geopolitical impact, culture-shifting influence and record-breaking financial performance.”
On the profile page for Takaichi, the Japanese leader was described as a hard-line conservative who has called former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher her political role model.
"Takaichi is stepping into the role as the world's fourth-largest economy faces familiar challenges of inflation and wage stagnation,” Forbes said.
The list contains women in various occupations in 25 countries, with 44 per cent of them in CEO roles and half of those on the list based in North America.
The highest-ranked woman in the private sector, coming in sixth, was Julie Sweet, chief executive of the global consulting firm Accenture.
Besides Takaichi, who is the only Japan-based woman on the list, women in such countries and territories as China, Hong Kong, and Singapore were chosen from East Asia, including Sandy Ran Xu of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and Tan Su Shan of Singapore-based banking group DBS. -- Bernama-Kyodo
