Forbes has just released its rankings of the world’s 100 most powerful women. Many of the honorees are exactly those you’d expect–German chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, the list also serves a kind of unofficial assessment of who’s in and who’s out in the tech business, as well.
Numero uno is, no big surprise here, Sheryl Sandberg (who comes in at no. 10 overall). The brief accompanying profile of Ms. Sandberg notes:
“One of few prominent women in tech, Sandberg has become the torch-bearer for a generation of women hoping to balance high-profile jobs with motherhood, an increasingly fraught issue in 2012. ‘I don’t believe in “having it all,”‘ she says. ‘But I do believe in women and men having both a successful career and family. The more women we get into positions of power, the more likely we’ll get that.'”
The first runner-up to Facebook’s resident adult is Virgina Rometty (no. 15 overall), the first female CEO of IBM. (And yet the Augusta National still hasn’t made her a member, an honor it traditionally extends to the head of IBM). Next are Usyla Burns (no. 17), CEO of golden oldie Xerox, followed by Meg Whitman (no. 18), CEO of the rambling wreck that is HP. Marissa Mayer (no. 21) rounds out the top five as CEO of Yahoo.
Outranking them all, however, on the big list? Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and, of course, wedded wife of the founder of Microsoft.