Forbes most powerful women 2014: These amazing Brits should have made it onto the list

Perhaps unsurprisingly – perhaps because of the corporate culture, which seems to be more open to women running car companies and financial institutions – Americans dominate. You’ll find US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at No. 2, General Motors CEO Mary Barra at No. 7 (and is the subject of the Forbes cover story, not for the most positive of reasons: it’s her first interview since a serious safety crisis erupted at GM, through faulty ignition switches. That sort of scenario is when anyone – male or female – learns exactly where the buck stops.)

^{Clockwise from left: Michelle Obama (8), Melinda Gates (3), Mary Barra (7), Hillary Clinton (6)}

Of course Sheryl Sandberg’s on there, still ‘leaning in’ at No. 9. You’ll find the CEOs of IBM, and of YouTube, PepsiCo and Mondolēz International (formerly Kraft). Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama are slugging it out at 6 and 8, meanwhile.

But you need to scroll down to No. 35 to get to The Queen, while Wintour is a few places further down at No. 39 – both of them well behind Beyoncé. The fact that Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen appears on the list is pretty baffling to me, though: sure, she sells a lot of magazines – and clothes, to readers – but true power …?

Not quite up there with being President of Liberia, as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (No. 70), never mind Angela Merkel, who tops the list of Forbes’s Most Powerful Women in the World.

Journalists and magazines love lists, of course (heaven knows, I compiled enough of them in my days as a rookie magazine writer; when it comes to cutting your journalistic teeth, lists are rusks.) They’re not always, um, entirely ‘definitive’ (which is Forbes’s claim). And actually, scratching beneath the surface of the list, it’s not just us: you’ll find scant representation from outside the States – a Singaporean here, a Turk there, one or two from India, a couple of women from the Middle East (which we most definitely can take as a beacon of progress). So we should not, perhaps, feel quite so slighted that there are so few Brits on the list: if I was feeling cynical (and I am, over this, slightly), I’d say they’ve put together a sort of feminine United Nations, ensuring that no foreign noses are put out of joint by not being represented on the list – but mostly focusing on Forbes’s ‘home territory’.

^{HarrietGreen should have been on the list}

But still, it got me thinking. Exactly who would I put forward …? And it’s just not as easy as I’d really like. Possibly Harriet Green of Thomas Cook (who’s brought the travel agent back from the brink), and easyJet’s Carolyn McCall.

On the politics front, Home Secretary Theresa May (pictured, left) is just about the only female politician who could really claim a spot in the global limelight.

Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet ’s surely as worthy a candidate as the founder of Spanx, though, while Stella McCartney ought to be able to give Diane von Furstenberg (No. 68 on Forbes’s list) a run for her money, in terms of global influence. (Grateful as we are for that wrap dress, Diane.) And where’s architect Zaha Hadid, eh …?

^{Natalie Massenet}

Bottom line: I’m really not sure how ‘definitive’ the Forbes list really is. But at the same time, while always keen to celebrate British women’s achievements – in media, in business, in politics – if I were marking our progress on the global stage, I might be tempted to put: Must. Keep. Trying. Harder. Because we’d surely all like to see a British female head of the Bank of England, Chairperson of the BBC, and some whizz-bang techworld CEOs.

But for now, in every sense, God Save The Queen, eh …?

Do you think the Forbes 'most powerful women' list is too US-focused? Who else would you like to see on there? Tell us @teleWonderWomen

more