Gone are the days when women were considered inferior to men. Today, in many fields, they are on par with men when it comes to abilities. They are leading families, organizations and even nations. Today nearly half of even developing nation like India’s entrepreneurs are women. You will find many rich and powerful women all over the world.

According to Forbes’ 2015 Power List these are the nine most powerful women in the world.

9) Margaret Chan

Margaret Chan is the Director-General of the World Health Organization. She is responsible for eradicating communicable diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Chan did not achieve success in combating Ebola, which killed more than 10,000 people in West Africa last year. Currently she is preparing advanced contingency and intervention plans for possible future epidemics.

8) Mary Barra

Mary Barra has held the position of the CEO of the General Motors Company since January 15 2014. She is the first woman ever to head GM. In April 2014, Barra was featured on the cover of Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”. Barra laid out her strategy for the future of the company in October, which includes becoming a technology leader.

7) Ginni Rometty

Ginni Rometty is the Chairman, President and CEO of IBM. She is the first woman to head the technology behemoth. After eleven consecutive quarters of revenue decline under her leadership, currently the company is focusing in boosting profit margins.

6) Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton is the first and only first lady to become senator. She was a senator from New York between 2001 and 2009. She served as the sixty –seventh US Secretary of State under President Obama between 2009 and 2013. She announced her second run for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential election in April 2015. More than 50 books and scholarly works have been written about Hillary Clinton.

5) Park Geun-hye

South Korean President Park Geun-hye runs the world’s fourteenth largest economy from the nation’s capital Seoul. She is facing many issues at home. A massive bribery scandal has had a negative impact on her reputation. Recently she signed a free trade agreement (CKFTA) with Canada and an environmental cooperation treaty with China and Japan.

4) Dilma Rousseff

Dilma Rousseff was sworn in as the thirty-sixth President of Brazil on 1 January 2011. She is the first female president of Brazil. Currently she is battling a bribery scandal that involves Petrobras, a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation.

3) Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde served as the Minister Finance in the Sarkozy government (France) between 2007 and 2011. On 16 November 2009, the Financial Times ranked her the best Minister of Finance in the Eurozone. Currently she is the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Under her able leadership, the IMF has supported efforts to increase female labor force participation as a way to decrease poverty and inequality.

2) Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen made history on February 3 2014 when she became the first female to head the Federal Reserve. This economist is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In October 2015, Bloomberg Markets ranked Janet Yellen first in their annual list of the 50 most influential economists and policymakers.

1) Angela Merkel

Former research scientist Angela Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 22 November 2005. She continues her reign as the most powerful woman in the world. Merkel clinched a third four-year term of Europe’s most vibrant economy in December 2014, making her the longest serving elected European Union head of state.

This ranking is compiled by Forbes. Who among these powerful women inspires you most?