Grybauskaitė on Forbes list of 100 most powerful women

First place on the magazine’s list was occupied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been named the world’s most powerful woman for the 10th time. She received the title from 2006-2009 and from 2011-2016.

Second place went to US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and third place went to US Federal Reserve System Chair Janet Yellen.

“She’s been called the Iron Lady, and for good reason,” writes Forbes. “Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė has been a fearless critic of her much larger and more powerful neighbor to the east, comparing President Vladimir Putin to Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Some analysts chalk it up to canny political calculation: In a country once occupied by the Soviet Union, comments likening Russia to a “terrorist nation” could only help in Grybauskaitė’s successful bid for reelection, in May 2014. Regardless of the motive, Grybauskaitė has successfully set at least two precedents: She is the first woman president in the country, and the first and only president in Lithuania to secure a second term.”