Sheikh Hasina ranks 26th on Forbes list of most powerful women in world

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, seeking an unprecedented fourth term in power by the end of this month, has ranked 26th on Forbes list of most powerful women in the world.

She has jumped four places to the 26th position on the Power Women 2018 list published by the American business magazine on Tuesday.

Her position on the list improved to 30th last year from 36th in 2016 and 59th in 2015, reports bdnews24.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, who recently announced that she will not seek re-election in 2021, tops the list for the eighth consecutive year.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has come second and IMF’s Christine Lagarde third while US philanthropist Melinda Ann Gates has dropped to sixth position.

Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors is on the fourth position on the list, Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson fifth, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki seventh, Banco Santander Chair and Executive Director Ana Patricia Botín eighth, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson ninth and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty 10th.

The US first daughter Ivanka Trump holds the No. 24 spot as a key advisor to Donald Trump’s administration.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar has dramatically been dropped off the last after coming in at 33 last year.

Despite holding power in her country, Suu Kyi has lost credibility on the world stage after continuing to defend the military’s crackdown on the country’s Rohingya minority and preventing independent international bodies from investigating.

In Hasina’s profile, the magazine has noted her role in providing aid to Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing Myanmar and allotting 2,000 acres of land in Bangladesh for the refugees.

Now she is working on the safe repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar, saying that Bangladesh can't bear the burden of permanent shelter.

“In stark contrast to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, the ‘lady of Dhaka’ has promised aid to Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing Myanmar, allotting 2,000 acres of land in Bangladesh for the refugees,” Forbes had written last year.

“Citing Bangladesh's own state sanctioned genocide during 1971's Liberation War, Hasina is ‘proud to bear the bulk of the cost’ of the relocation of these refugees to her country,” it had added.

Christina Vuleta, who leads editorial at ForbesWomen, has made a list of 22 Most Powerful Women in Politics and Policy and placed Hasina on the seventh position.