The 3 Most Powerful African Women According to Forbes?? Utter Nonsense!!

FORBES MOST POWERFUL WOMEN 2011???

Forbes Magazine has ranked the most powerful women in the world for 2011. Three African women made the cut for the top 100 in Africa. President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at #62, Finance Minister of Nigeria; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at #87 and CEO of ArcelorMittal South Africa; Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita at #97. We applaud these women for their hard work and congratulate them for making the list. However, this list is a bunch of garbage. How can there only be 3 African women in the top 100? At first glance it is tempting to think that Africa is still the dark continent that western media houses like Forbes would have us believe. However, at close glance you quickly realize that this is a 21st Century scheme by western media conglomerates to make Africans think they are not contributing to the global economy.

Based on Forbes’ list, they have concluded that the most powerful woman in Africa is the President of the one of the smallest countries and economies in Africa. I find that very strange. I am tempted to believe that Ngozi, is more powerful because she is the Finance minister for one of Africa’s largest and fastest growing economies. Liberia on the other hand is a great country but it unfortunately even if it was deleted from the continent it wouldn’t be missed very much. They need to include more women from Africa particularly those with political power. I think Forbes Magazine ought to be ashamed of their prejudice towards Africans and African women in particular.

Lets nominate our own powerful women in Africa who actually have power in government, non profits/ non-governmental organizations and in the private sector. While we are at it maybe we should also nominate first ladies who have influence too.

Courtesy of Samantha Dhlamini 2011