Japan’s female PM: exception amid women’s political decline.
Forbes magazine, in its 2025 report on the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, writes that in the 2025 edition of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list, the top two spots for the fourth consecutive year have been awarded to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank. According to Forbes, the consistent presence of these two figures indicates stability at the highest levels of female leadership in the world.
However, Forbes writes that this stability at the top has been accompanied by widespread instability at other levels of politics, where institutional shocks, intra-party battles, cultural shifts, and massive cabinet reshuffles have altered the balance of power in many countries.
Sudden downfalls; power without guarantees
Former Thai Prime Minister Phaythongthare Shinawatra is a prime example of this instability. Last year, she was ranked 29th on the list of Thailand’s most powerful women as the youngest prime minister, but in August 2025, just over a year after taking office, she was removed from office by the Constitutional Court for ethics violations related to a leaked phone conversation. Forbes writes that the removal led to political chaos in Thailand and showed that reaching the highest political position is no guarantee of staying in power.