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Personal Growth — April 22, 2011

World’s Most Influential Women

A record 34 women made Time magazine’s 2011 list of the world’s 100 most influential people. But why weren’t there 50? And after featuring last year, why is Sarah Palin missing?

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What is the Latest Development?

This year’s Time magazine list of the most influential people in the world features 34 women, a record number for it, and up from 31 in 2010. Women of very recent impact have been included, such as controversial “Tiger mom” Amy Chua, Pulitzer fiction winner Jennifer Egan, newly appointed Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and soon-to-be royal Kate Middleton. However, Sarah Palin, who featured prominently last time, is absent this year. “Why might Palin have been omitted? Is she losing traction?” asks Jenna Goudreau.

What is the Big Idea?

“Influence is impossible to measure,” says Time editor Richard Stengel. But some things can be measured and the statistics speak for themselves. “Women do two-thirds of the world’s work but earn only 10% of the world’s income, and produce half of the world’s food but own just 1% of its farmland. Clearly, influential female voices are needed more than ever,” writes Goudreau.

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