Girl power

I like lists and rankings. And the latest one to catch my eye was Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women in the world for this year. Needless to say, the top spot goes to the formidable (and a trifle scary) Condoleeza Rice.

An overwhelming 66 of the 100 women are from the United States, seven of them in the top ten, including Oprah Winfrey (9) and Melinda Gates (10). Some of the other American women, among them company CEOs and presidents, journalists and politicians, include Hillary Clinton (26), Indra Nooyi (28) - president and CFO of PepsiCo and the highest-ranking Indian-born woman in corporate America, Laura Bush (46), Diane Sawyer (55) and Christiane Amanpour (72).

Compared to that, Canada features just once at the 65th spot with Louise Fréchette, deputy secretary-general of the UN.

The Islamic world has a dismal three entries - Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia (29), Queen Rania of Jordan (80) and (surprise) Lubna Olayan, a Saudi businesswoman in 97th place. Even so the Middle East, long considered to be a place where women's rights were little more than a desert mirage, is showing signs of female empowerment.

Women now have the vote in many of the tribal Persian Gulf sheikhdoms and emirates, a few of which even have women ministers and policy-makers. These seem to be not just token appointments, but positions in significant areas like economy, development and education. Nearby Afghanistan recently appointed a woman governor, and Pakistan had the Muslim world's first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, back in the late 1980s.

Nevertheless, the situation of women at the societal level in general in these countries is far from acceptable. Honour killings are common and largely go unpunished in places like Jordan and Pakistan. Forbes reports that 40% of the women in the Middle East over 15 years of age are illiterate. And women still cannot drive, vote or run for office in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia.

In the end, it is the status of the common woman that matters, not how many make it to the top 100 list.