Sonia Gandhi 21st most powerful woman - Forbes

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the world's most powerful woman for the third straight year, topping Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the top 100 women, while India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi is ranked No. 21.

The magazine's ranking is based on their career, economic impact and media coverage.

Sheila Bair, who chairs the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp that insures bank deposits, debuts at No. 2 due to her increased prominence amid a stumbling U.S. economy.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the only other government official in the top 10, although she dropped three spots from last year to No. 7 as the Bush administration prepares to leave office in January after the U.S. election in November.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of the chief executives of PepsiCo, WellPoint, Anglo American, Kraft Foods, Temasek Holdings, Areva and Xerox.

"It's inspiring to look at what some of these women have done and to listen to some of their life stories," Chana Schoenberger, Forbes' associate editor, said in an interview.

There are 54 business executives and 23 politicians on the list, with media personalities and heads of non-profit organizations rounding out the top 100. Forbes said 45 percent of the women are based outside the United States.

One third of the women are new to the list, including Argentina's first popularly elected president Cristina Fernandez and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.