Today, the New York Daily News published its list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York, and while we were so proud and inspired to read about these accomplished women, we are seriously questioning the “definitive” nature of this list, as some of the rankings are, quite frankly, off.
Each woman is sorted by number — Beyoncé (spiritual First Lady of New York City) tops the list at #1 with Chirlane McCray (actual First Lady of New York City) coming in second. The list seems to start out pretty accurately (no one’s going to argue with Beyoncé being the most powerful anything), but takes a turn for the WTF as it progresses. It’s not that the women mentioned on this list aren’t powerful or deserving of a mention. It’s the questionable numbering system that’s throwing us off.
Included on the list is Girls creator Lena Dunham, which the daily says has “redefined being young, single and female in New York.” Uh…OK? Pretty sure “white and privileged” is a running theme for stories about young, single women in New York (Friends, Sex and the City, Cruel Intentions, Gossip Girl…how much time do you have because we’ve got all day), but even more bewildering is that Dunham was ranked at #5, while Anna Wintour, who is Forbes magazine’s 39th most powerful woman in the world, is sitting at #18. A woman who got the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a celebrated and prominent New York City institution, to rename an entire wing after her and had the First Lady of the United States cut the ribbon at her big moment…is less powerful than some chick who wrote an HBO series about getting cut off from her parents, living in Brooklyn and showing more bare naked ass than anyone wished to see? Whatever you say, Daily News.
Dunham is billed as more powerful than City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer and Tina Fey. Who knew some masturbatory musings on having to get a job and pay rent all by yourself could give you so much ~clout~ in this city? This isn’t to say that Dunham isn’t accomplished or deserving–she’s only 28 and she’s done more in her life than plenty of people twice her age. But in order for her to be the fifth most powerful woman in NYC, she’s going to need more credits under her belt than she’s working with right now.
Also listed ahead of Mme. Wintour is Jenna Lyons (#11), who does have plenty of power, especially in the fashion industry. But her designs for J.Crew wouldn’t even be in Vogue were it not for Wintour’s seal of approval, so we’re still wondering: WTF?
Other fashion people to make the list are DKNY PR girl Aliza Licht (30), Rachna Shah, managing director of KCD Digital (#39), Eva Chen (#19) and Diane Von Furstenberg (#31).
