10 Most famous female political leaders (With Pictures)

5. Angela Merkel

The world’s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Angela Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist, who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. She was ranked as the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes magazine in 2012, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman, and is now ranked fifth. Also See: 10 hilariously inaccurate statements made by US politicians