The Power List

2018 has been a year when women worldwide have loudly and collectively spoken out about gender inequality and male oppression. In New Zealand it was the year our Prime Minister made global headlines for having a baby while in office. It is a new wave of feminist strength that coincidentally comes 125 years after Kiwi women were given the vote. Leading with former US First Lady Michelle Obama, The Australian Womens Weekly is proud to profile our selection of influential women who are at the forefront of this shift in the gender equation.

- Emma Clifton And Fleur Mealing

There are three delightful anecdotes that sum up a lot of what there is to love about Michelle Obama. One, back when she was Michelle Robinson, her first interaction with the man who would become her husband, and the 44th President of the United States, was when she was assigned as his mentor at a Chicago law firm. Barack Obama, then 28, was the over-eager new lawyer who kept trying to date her, despite her protests that it was “tacky” to date someone she was in charge of. It was only after Barack offered to quit his job that she relented. Two, after they had been dating for three years, and they were out for dinner one night, she had a go at Barack for why he hadn’t proposed to her yet. During dessert, he took out a jewellery box with an engagement ring and put it in front of her, reportedly saying, “Well, that shuts you up, doesn’t it?” Finally, years later, when a young girl told Michelle she wanted to be First Lady when she grew up, Michelle drily replied, “It doesn’t pay well.”

Considering they’re one of the most famous families on the planet, the Obamas have done a tremendous job of avoiding the public eye since they left the White House in January 2017. Barack and Michelle have popped up here and there, sometimes for serious reasons – like the video Michelle recently released urging people to vote in the mid-term elections – and sometimes for happy reasons, such as the wedding she officiated at for the daughter of a family friend. Well, that’s about to change. On November 14, Michelle will release her long-awaited memoir,