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It’s often been said, “It’s a man’s world.” And while it is true that men often dominate the headlines women have and are making more of an impact.

As of this writing some of the top female CEO’s are:

Mary Barra – General Motors
Meg Whitman – Hewlett-Packard
Virginia Marie "Ginni" Rometty – IBM
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi – PepsiCo
Phebe Novakovic – General Dynamics
Ursula M. Burns – Xerox
Denise M. Morrison – Campbell Soup Company
Marissa Ann Mayer – Yahoo

Other Fairer Sex Leaders

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim the English Channel breaking a record that had held for over 50 years.
Valentina Tereshkova was officially the first woman in space. Her 70 hours 50 minutes in space was more time than all US Mercury astronauts combined.
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female physician. After being rejected by every school she applied to the admissions board at Geneva Medical College took a student vote to decide her fate. The student body voted her in as a joke thinking she would fail miserably — she finished first in her class.
Sorry Hillary. You are not the first woman to run for president. Victoria Woodhull ran for the presidency in 1872. Nothing much has changed because her radicalism, and an alleged affair with noted preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, derailed her candidacy.
Many of us learned about double Nobel Prize Winner Marie Curie in our history or chemistry classes. She schooled us in the wonders of radioactivity.

Some Final Thoughts

While the playing field is still far from level for women in many disciplines the above ladies are clearing the road for future executives.

More women than ever before are starting their own businesses and succeeding. Instead of serving coffee in the boardroom they are sitting at the head of the table and calling the shots.

These women didn’t wait for their shot they made their chances happen by going for it.