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#1 Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of state
U.S.

She is the first African-American woman to become the U.S. secretary of state. She advises the leader of the world’s largest superpower and has an unparalleled level of trust with and access to the president. And she has served two other U.S. presidents, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. For all of these reasons, and more, Rice, 50, is the most powerful woman in the world.
After a four-year role as national security adviser, Rice assumed the mantle of secretary of state in January. Rice has played a key, behind-the-scenes role in all of President George W. Bush’s major decisions. “During the last four years, I’ve relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience and appreciated her sound and steady judgment,” the president said when announcing Rice’s promotion. Bush needs her now more than ever, as his approval ratings and credibility sag, his domestic agenda is stalled, and the country grows more bitterly divided over the war in Iraq.
With her steely nerve and delicate manners (she has been called the “Warrior Princess”), Rice lately has reinvigorated her position with diplomatic activism, whether it’s promoting Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to ease the Palestinian conflict, or encouraging six-party talks to get North Korea to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons, or trying to stop Sudan’s genocide—to the point where her diplomatic party was recently roughed up by Sudan’s strongmen. Rice also has close relationships with world leaders, having accompanied the president on numerous trips to Europe and Iraq. Rice has visited 31 countries and logged in over 119,000 miles by midyear. An unofficial Web site proclaims, “Condoleezza Rice for President 2008,” which might be a long-shot idea. But a run by Rice for the presidency would make history in the U.S.

#2 Wu Yi
Vice Premier, minister of health
China

Having risen up the ranks of China’s Communist Party leadership since 1962, Wu Yi, 66, became a member of the Central Committee in 2002, adding the post of minister of health in 2003. Wu Yi has been busy this year as she helps China battle disgruntled textile manufacturers, due to the lifting of World Trade Organization quotas. In a bold June speech in Hong Kong, Wu Yi called for an end to politicizing economic issues. One key move by her country should help here. Bowing to international pressure, in July China revalued the yuan by a modest 2.1%, scrapping the yuan’s ten-year-old peg to the U.S. dollar and replacing it with a tightly managed float against a basket of unspecified foreign currencies, in which the dollar will likely occupy a prominent place.

#3 Yulia Tymoshenko
Former prime minister
Ukraine

Tymoshenko, 44, was one of the leaders of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution last fall that toppled a stagnant, corrupt regime. For her support, the country’s new president, Victor Yushchenko, appointed her prime minister, a post she is using forcefully to shake up Ukrainian oligarchs. Her bold moves to re-privatize industrial assets, allegedly bought on the cheap by billionaires like Rinat Akhmetov and Victor Pinchuk, have met with criticism both inside and outside Ukraine. The discontent has finally caught up with her. Tymoshenko was sacked by Yuschenko in September. But don’t count her out quite yet. Tymoshenko is used to controversy, having fallen out with the sitting government in 2001, leading to her arrest and later dismissal. She will be back in parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2006.

#4 Gloria Arroyo
President
Philippines

Arroyo, 58, is now fighting to hold on to her job as the opposition party seeks to file impeachment charges against her over a series of scandals, and her attempts to fix Manila’s weak finances are falling apart, causing frustrated technocrats to bolt from her government. After donning the mantle of president in 2001, Arroyo tried to work diligently on her governing platform, which includes the eradication of poverty, which helped her win re-election in 2004. Nevertheless, despite a growing economy (in 2004, the Philippines economy grew an estimated 6.1%, up from 4.7% in 2003), Arroyo’s stewardship has been burdened by a Muslim insurgency and the Philippines’ designation as the second most corrupt country in Asia, according to a survey of businessmen conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. Arroyo, a former classmate of Bill Clinton’s at Georgetown University and a onetime economics professor, is currently under investigation by lawmakers into allegations she cheated to win last year’s election; to date Arroyo has declined to testify before her government’s Congress.

#5 Margaret (Meg) Whitman
Chief executive, eBay
U.S.

As ruler of the world’s biggest online auction site, Whitman, 49, has successfully beaten back stiff competition from Amazon.com and Yahoo!. To do that, she has swiftly fixed any problems, has faithfully tried to weed out the fakes on her site and has posted a consistent flow of profits, making eBay the world’s most valuable Internet brand. All this is to be expected. Whitman has an impressive, blue-chip résumé, with executive stints at Hasbro, the Walt Disney Co. and Bain & Co., among others. Whitman also serves on the boards of eBay as well as DreamWorks Animation, Procter & Gamble and the Gap. Despite her stock’s volatility, her personal holdings are valued at $1.6 billion, making Whitman one of the richest people on the planet.