Indira Gandhi among "20th century's 25 most powerful women"

20 Nov 2010

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Indira Gandhi, the world's longest serving woman prime minister, is among 25 most powerful women of the past century listed in the latest edition of Time magazine. The list also includes Mother Teresa and Philippines' Corazon Aquino.

Indira GandhiIndira Gandhi comes ninth in the list that is topped by Jane Addams, an advocate for women's suffrage and the first American woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. UD secretary of state Hillary Clinton comes sixth in the list.

"She was the nation's daughter, brought up under the close watch of both her father Jawaharlal Nehru, who was India's first Prime Minister after decades of British rule, and her country," Time wrote about Indira Gandhi.

When Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister in 1966, Time wrote on its cover: `Troubled India in a Woman's Hands.'

"Those steady hands went on to steer India, not without controversy, for much of the next two decades through recession, famine, the detonation of the nation's first atomic bomb, a corruption scandal and a civil war in neighboring Pakistan that, under her guidance, led to the creation of a new state, Bangladesh," Time wrote in its latest issue.

And, "By the time she was assassinated, in 1984, Gandhi was the world's longest-serving female prime minister, a distinction she holds to this day," it said.

The Time list of leading ladies

Jane Addams
1860-1935
Corazon Aquino
1933-2009
Rachel Carson
1907-1964
Coco Chanel
1883-1971
Julia Child
1912-2004
Hillary Clinton
1947-Present
Marie Curie
1867-1934
Aretha Franklin
1942-Present
Indira Gandhi
1917-1984
Estée Lauder
1908-2004
Madonna
1958-Present
Margaret Mead
1901-1978
Golda Meir
1898-1978
Angela Merkel
1954-Present
Sandra Day O'Connor
1930-Present
Rosa Parks
1913-2005
Jiang Qing
1914-1991
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1962
Margaret Sanger
1879-1966
Gloria Steinem
1934-Present
Martha Stewart
1941-Present
Mother Teresa
1910-1997
Margaret Thatcher
1925-Present
Oprah Winfrey
1954-Present
Virginia Woolf
1882-1941

On Mother Teresa, the magazine wrote: "Born Agnes Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents living under the Ottoman Empire, the petite nun made her way to India in 1929, building her start-up missionary community of 13 members in Kolkata into a global network of more than 4,000 sisters running orphanages and AIDS hospices".

"Sometimes criticised for lacking adequate medical training, not addressing poverty on a grander scale, actively opposing birth control and abortion and even cozying up to dictators, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize nonetheless inspired countless volunteers to serve, and will wear her white habit all the way to Catholic sainthood,"

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