Every year, the process of compiling the list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women starts with an accounting of what’s happened throughout the year: who’s been elected, appointed or promoted to a position of power? Which founders have taken their companies public—to great wealth, great acclaim, or all of the above? And which women have made the greatest strides in using their voice, their resources, or their public platform in creating lasting and meaningful change around the world?

Often, the answers to these questions provides a clear path to determining the newcomers for the list. But sometimes, the appointments or elections are too new, or wielding of power too unproven, to land a person on our list of the top 100.

As we note every year, just missing out on a ranking for our Power list does not mean a woman is not powerful. There are so many women whose power is rising—and for an elite few, rising at a rate that could earn them a spot on the list as soon as next year. To that end, these are the women to watch for 2022:

Mia Mottley: The first female prime minister for Barbados, Mottley has had an eventful autumn 2021. In November, made a strong impression on the world stage, admonishing the leaders gathered at the COP26 U.N. Climate Conference, “When will we as world leaders address the pressing issues that are cause our people to worry—be it climate or vaccines? When will leaders lead?” Four weeks later, she led her island out of the British monarchy and into its new life as a republic, installing Sandra Mason (a woman who is also someone to watch next year) as its first local head of state. “We believe that the time has come for us to claim our full destiny. It is a woman of the soil to whom this honor is being given,” Mottley said.

Najla Bouden Romdhane: A geology professor by trade, Romdhane took office as Tunisia’s first-ever female prime minister in October. Though she has some political experience—she was named Tunisia’s director-general in charge of quality at the Ministry of Higher Education in 2011—political observers are questioning how much authority Romdhane truly wields: Romdhane was appointed to her position by a president who came into power by suspending parliament and seizing control for himself.

Lynn Martin: On Monday, the New York Stock Exchange announced that president Stacey Cunningham will hand her leadership baton to Lynn Martin, the current head of the Intercontinental Exchange’s fixed income and data services segment, a division that employs 2,500 people and generated $1.4 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2021. Martin’s appointment becomes official in January, and if predecessor Cunningham’s consistent rankings on the Power List are any indication, Martin’s own appearance could soon follow.

Angela Williams: This 50 Over 50: Impact honoree has an impressive resume: Williams received her J.D. and masters in divinity, and early in her career worked simultaneously as a lawyer and ordained minister. In 2018, she became the first Black female president and CEO of Easterseals, the country's largest nonprofit devoted to disability advocacy. And now, she has an even bigger job: in September, Williams was named the president and CEO of United Way, the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit. She will be its first female and first African American CEO, and will lead mission-critical work helping some 48 million people protect their health and economic security. 

Over the course of 2021, a number of female CEO-founders had high-profile—and lucrative—initial public offerings or capital raises. It is for that reason that Canva cofounder Melanie Perkins, Tala founder Shivani Siroya, Bumble cofounder Whitney Wolfe Herd, and Clear Secure cofounder Caryn Seidman-Becker are all on are watch list. Each woman runs the company she helped conceptualize, each is disrupting the industry in which she operates, and each one is committed to using her company or wealth to make a difference for others. “If the whole thing was about building wealth that would be the most uninspiring thing I could possibly imagine,” Perkins told Forbes in September. “It has felt strange when people refer to us as ‘billionaires’ as it has never felt like our money, we’ve always felt that we’re purely custodians of it,” she added later.

Kathy Hochul: The 57th governor of New York is the first woman in history to run the state. Hochul took over in August after Andrew Cuomo resigned amid a bevy of sexual harassment allegations and immediately got to work, implementing a series of universal masking mandates for certain scenarios in New York state and announcing a $539 million homeowner assistance fund for New Yorkers at risk of foreclosure or displacement. But her tenure could be short-lived: she’s up for reelection in November 2022 and facing stiff competition from New York attorney general Letitia James and New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams.

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