HE Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani, daughter of HH the Emir, has been named on the Forbes magazine’s 2012 list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Only three Arabs have been named to the list and all of them hail from the GCC countries. They are Shaikha al-Bahar, chief executive officer of the National Bank of Kuwait, Shaikha Lubna al-Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, and HE Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums Authority.

Besides being the chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority, HE Sheikha Mayassa is also an active philanthropist who is involved in a number of Doha-based charities like Reach Out to Asia and several social initiatives.

The list is headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been placed in the second position.

Kuwait’s Bahar, the highest-ranked Arab woman at number 85 on the list, is described by Forbes as “a powerful force in the NBK Group which has total assets reaching up to $ 51.1 billion.”

Qasimi, who is placed at 92 on the biannual list dropped 22 spots from the 2010 Forbes rankings.

She was described as “a pioneering woman when she became the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the UAE.”

HE Sheikha Mayassa, the final woman on the list at number 100, was described by Forbes to be “arguably the most powerful woman in the art world today.”

Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Indian National Congress, is ranked at six and US First Lady Michelle Obama has been placed at the seventh place.

Four Arab women made it to the 2010 list. But while Qassimi was ranked 70, the other three have been dropped from this year’s rankings.

The Forbes list includes CEOs, heads of state, entrepreneurs, celebrity role models, billionaire activists and philanthropists . A majority of them come from the United States.