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Forbes just released its latest list of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women, and Queen Rania, the Palestinian wife of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, ranks in the middle. That’s ahead of J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization, and Lubna Olayan, the only other Arab woman on the list. Olayan runs a branch of Saudi Arabia’s Olayan empire, one of the biggest conglomerates in the Middle East.
Rania Al Abdullah has worked indefatigably to promote education in Jordan. Globally, she’s a vocal advocate of children’s rights on behalf of U.N. organizations. She’s got more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter. But perhaps most powerful, she presents a Westernized image of the Arab Muslim woman that is appealing to the U.S. media.
There are more powerful women in the Arab world than Queen Rania. In the category of royals, there’s Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, the very visible wife of Qatar’s ruler. Like Queen Rania, she’s actively engaged in education in Qatar and on behalf of UNESCO. She promotes cross-cultural understanding. Qatar is one of the world’s wealthiest countries thanks to its gas reserves, and one of the most politically influential countries in the Middle East. Her husband is Al Jazeera’s backer.
Lubna Al Qasimi, who is part of the United Arab Emirates’ ruling families, is that country’s Minister of Foreign Trade.
Although women do occupy executive positions in the business world, they still lag behind. Kuwait’s Maha Al-Ghunaim helped build Global Investment House into a regional powerhouse with more than $8 billion in assets under management at one point, but it was hit hard by the recession.
Last year, all three were on the Forbes power list.
Back to Queen Rania. Despite her savviness with social media and the Western press, she’s more popular outside of Jordan, which still remains a largely conservative country. This past February, in a daring letter to her husband, 36 tribal leaders accused her of meddling in state matters and bestowing property to her family. They went so far as to compare her to Leila Ben Ali, the profligate wife of the deposed Tunisian ruler. She has since reportedly lowered her profile, and dresses more modestly.
Not the least surprising, but still, is Queen Rania’s muted response to the uprisings and their savage repression. It is a stark contrast to her standing together with the wife of beleaguered Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the daughter of fugitive tyrant Muammar al-Qaddafi, and Sheikha Al Missned to denounce Israel’s brutal bombing of Gaza in 2009.
