Ladies Home Journal ~  Top 30 Women in the United States Respect: Century of Women in Music

"At the risk of exhibiting hubris, I think I have evolved beyond the sense that one's worth is based on a stranger's evaluation." ~ Julia Roberts

To compile the Power Index, Ladies' Home Journal scored women in eight categories: cultural clout, financial impact, achievement, visibility, power to influence, intellectual impact, political know-how and staying power.

Cultural Clout
1 Oprah Winfrey
2 J.K. Rowling
3 Sandra Day O'Connor
4 Katie Couric
5 Britney Spears
6 Martha Stewart
7 Hillary Rodham Clinton
8 Judith McGrath
9 Barbara Walters

10 Julia Roberts
11 Meg Whitman
12 Faith Hill
13 Diane Sawyer
14 Madonna
15 Sherry Lansing
16 Jennifer Lopez
17 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
18 Condoleezza Rice
19 Caroline Kennedy (Schlossberg)
20 Laura Bush

21 Carleton Fiorina
22 Andrea Jung
23 Patty Stonesifer
24 Abby Joseph Cohen
25 Karen Hughes
26 Danielle Steel
27 Maya Angelou
28 Venus Williams
29 Kay Bailey Hutchison
30 Toni Morrison

Achievement
1 Condoleezza Rice
2 Sandra Day O'Connor
3 Oprah Winfrey
4 Barbara Walters
5 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
6 Carleton Fiorina
7 Andrea Jung
8 Martha Stewart
9 Meg Whitman

10 Venus Williams
11 Toni Morrison
12 Hillary Rodham Clinton
13 Maya Angelou
14 Sherry Lansing
15 Abby Joseph Cohen
16 Karen Hughes
17 J.K. Rowling
18 Katie Couric
19 Madonna
20 Diane Sawyer

21 Danielle Steel
22 Kay Bailey Hutchison
23 Julia Roberts
24 Britney Spears
25 Faith Hill
26 Judith McGrath
27 Jennifer Lopez
28 Patty Stonesifer
29 Caroline Kennedy (Schlossberg)
30 Laura Bush