Ursula von der Leyen is the world’s most powerful woman, says Forbes. The European Commission president ranked number one on Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

The German politician, who has held the post since 2019, finished ahead of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came fourth.

Von der Leyen, 65, is the first woman to serve in the role, Forbes said, “which is responsible for legislation affecting more than 450 million Europeans”.

Born October 8, 1958, Brussels, Belgium, the Belgian-born German politician was the first woman to serve as Germany’s minister of defense (2013–19). In July 2019 she became the first woman to be elected president of the European Commission.

Last year, Ursula von der Leyen was number 8 on the list. This year, she rose to the top because of her strong and decisive support of Ukraine, and her continued leadership in bringing Europe through the coronavirus pandemic, the publication reported.

Ursula was the daughter of German politician Ernst Albrecht, who had served as chief of cabinet at the Commission of the European Economic Community. She studied economics (1977–80) at the Universities of Göttingen and Münster as well as at the London School of Economics but never graduated. Instead, she went into medicine and graduated (1987) from Hanover (Germany) Medical School (MHH). She worked as an assistant physician (1988–92) at the MHH’s gynecological clinic and in 1991 was awarded a doctorate in medicine. She lived (1992–96) in the United States while her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, was on the faculty at Stanford University. After her return to Germany, she served as a faculty member (1998–2002) at the MHH’s department of epidemiology, social medicine, and health systems research. In addition, she earned a master’s degree (2001) in public health.

Ursula von der Leyen, who had joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1990, became involved in 1996 in the politics of Lower Saxony—the federal state her father had governed (1976–90). She held a series of local and state offices prior to her election in 2004 as a member of the CDU’s leadership committee. After the CDU won the federal elections in 2005, she was appointed minister of family affairs, senior citizens, women, and youth in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first cabinet. Among von der Leyen’s measures to address Germany’s low birth rate were the implementation of paid parental leave from work following the birth of a child and a massive expansion of child care facilities. In 2009 she was elected a member of the Bundestag (parliament) and became minister of labour and social affairs. While she held that post, the ongoing financial crisis compelled her to make cuts to welfare spending. In late 2010 von der Leyen was elected deputy chairman of the CDU.

In 2022, she became one of the West’s staunchest supporters of Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

“This is a war on our energy, a war on our economy, a war on our values and a war on our future,” she had said of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Forbes reported. “This is about autocracy against democracy. I want to make it very clear, the sanctions are here to stay. This is the time for us to show resolve, not appeasement.”

OTHERS

The Gates Foundation awarded her its 2022 Global Goalkeeper Award for her leadership in Europe’s Covid recovery after the president spearheaded an €800 billion relief package in the summer of 2020 that went into effect in 2021.

Ursula Von der Leyen is also a physician. Her first job was as a doctor at a women’s clinic in her native Germany. She didn’t enter politics until she was in her early 40s. She then worked her way up from local offices to become a minister of family affairs and youth in 2005. In 2013, she became Germany’s first female defense minister.

“Ursula von der Leyen’s influence is unique–no one else on the list formulates policy on behalf of 450 million people–but her commitment to a free and democratic society is not,” Maggie McGrath, editor of ForbesWomen said. “Von der Leyen is just one face of the biggest storyline of 2022: women acting as stalwarts for democracy.”