Merkel was the most powerful woman in the world
German politician and scientist Angela Merkel, who is now retired, presided as chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She formerly held the positions of Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. She is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel was Germany's first female chancellor. Merkel was regularly referred to be the most powerful woman in the world and the de facto head of the European Union (EU) during her time as chancellor.
When her father, a Lutheran minister, accepted a pastorate in Perleberg, she was only a few months old when she moved from her birthplace of Hamburg in what was then West Germany to East Germany. She earned her Ph.D. in quantum chemistry in 1986, and from that point until 1989, she worked as a research scientist. After the Revolutions of 1989, Merkel entered politics and temporarily worked as the deputy spokesperson for Lothar de Maizière's first democratically elected East German government. Merkel was chosen to represent the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the Bundestag following the unification of Germany in 1990. Merkel was appointed Minister for Women and Youth in 1991 as Helmut Kohl's protegé. In 1994, she was named Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. Following the CDU's defeat in the 1998 federal election, Merkel was chosen as the party's general secretary. Two years later, following the resignation of Wolfgang Schäuble due to a donations controversy, she was named the party's first female leader and the first female Leader of the Opposition.
