Greta Thunberg/Instagram/PAIf it wasn’t enough that the 16-year-old climate activist was named TIME’s ‘person of the year’, she’s now been named Forbes’ 100th most powerful woman in the world for 2019 as well.
Topping the list is the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, followed by Christine Lagarde, Nancy Pelosi, Ursula von der Leyen and Mary Barra.
This is the ninth year running for Merkel grabbing a spot at the top end of the list, with the publication praising her ‘steely reserve, from standing up to Donald Trump to allowing more than a million Syrian refugees into Germany’.
Other well known names on the list include Oprah Winfrey at number 20, Queen Elizabeth at number 40, and singer and business mogul Rihanna at 61 and therefore beating Queen Bey herself, who placed at number 66.
Thunberg has always been a topic of debate on whether her campaigning and protesting is actually making a difference, leaving people both loving and hating her: one day she’s the TIME Person of the Year, the next day she’s only 100th on Forbes’ powerful women list.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump tweeted that Greta winning TIME‘s person of the year was ‘ridiculous’ – does anyone else sense a sore loser, or..?
The tweet said:
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
Since Trump tweeted, the young activist has, in a sense, responded by changing her Twitter bio accordingly.
She now describes herself, hilariously, as a ‘teenager working on her anger management problem’ and adds she’s ‘currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend’.
Greta Thunberg/TwitterForbes refers to Thunberg as a ‘media sensation’ which helped her spark the attention of other young people who share the same environmental concerns as her.
The publication also notes the teen activist declined the 2019 Nordic Council Environment Prize because, apparently, ‘the climate movement does not need any more awards’.
Explaining how they calculate the rankings, the Forbes’ website says:
To determine the rank within each category, as well as overall rank on the list of 100, Forbes applied four metrics: money (GDP, revenue, assets under management, or net worth), media mentions, impact (employee count, population) and spheres of influence. Collectively, Forbes looked at hard power (currencies and constitutions), dynamic power (audiences, communities and creative influence), and soft power (what are leaders doing with their influence) within the context of each woman’s field: business, media, technology, finance, philanthropy and politics. The list was locked on December 9, 2019.
PAWith almost half of the women being from the United States, only seven of the 100 women are from the UK, those being: Emma Walmsley, Marianne Lake, Queen Elizabeth II, Nicola Sturgeon, Donna Langley, Katharine Viner and Eliza Manningham-Buller.
The majority of those ranked in the top 100 are aged between 35-60 with the Queen topping the age scale at 93, and Greta being the youngest at 16.
Love her or hate her, Thunberg’s achieved more than most people would do by the age of 16 and she’s opened the eyes of the younger generation to climate change.
But still not Trump, apparently.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.