Leading Arab women featured

Forbes magazine’s 2012 list of the 100 most powerful women in the world includes three Arab women, all from the oil-rich Gulf region. Shaikha al-Bahar, chief executive officer of the National Bank of Kuwait; Shaikha Lubna al-Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade; and Shaikha Mayassa al-Thani, chair of Qatar Museums Authority represented the Arab world in the business magazine's listing of the world's most influential women. Kuwait’s Bahar, the highest-ranked Arab woman at number 85 on the list, was described by Forbes as “a powerful force in the NBK Group which has total assets reaching up to $51.1 billion”. Qasimi, who’s placing at 92 on the biannual list dropped her 22 spots from the the 2010 Forbes rankings, was described as “a pioneering woman when she became the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the UAE.” Meanwhile, Mayassa, the final woman on the list at number 100, was said to be “arguably the most powerful woman in the art world today.” Four Arab women made it in the 2010 list. But while Qassimi was ranked 70, the other three have been dropped from this year’s rankings. On that 2010 list, Qatar First Lady Sheikha Mozah Bin Nasser al-Missned ranked at 74, while Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan was listed at 76, and and Maha al-Ghunaim, cofounder and chair of Kuwait’s Global Investment House was at number 94. The 2012 Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women List was headed by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.