The World’s Most Powerful Women: June 7

Good morning, WMPW readers! Rome is close to getting its first female mayor, Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination, and just 4% of the CEOs in the Fortune 500 are women. Got some news about an exceptional woman? You can find me on Twitter at @laurascohn. Have a great Tuesday!

THE BIG STORY

Rome is one step closer to its first female mayor

In an age of anti-establishment fervor in European politics, women look like they're becoming the ultimate anti-establishment brand. Yesterday, Virginia Raggi of the populist Five Star Movement won the first round of Rome's mayoral race. Raggi's win follows that of Ada Colau, the leftist mayor of Barcelona who took office last year, and Anne Hidalgo, the socialist mayor of Paris who became the first female to hold the office two years ago. The trend reminds me of what happened in the U.S. in the early 1990s, when more women ran for the Senate to challenge the traditionally mostly-male club during a similar era of anti-incumbent sentiment. True, Rome's Raggi still must prevail in a June 19 run-off election, but she has taken her weekend triumph to heart, saying,"The winds are changing."

Financial Times

EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

Merkel at No. 1

A list of the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes puts Angela Merkel in the No. 1 slot for the sixth year in a row. Filling out the top five are Hillary Clinton, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, Melinda Gates and GM CEO Mary Barra.

Forbes

Slovenians for Trump

Melania Trump's home country hosts a fan base for her husband, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In Slovenia, members of the far-right support Donald Trump's anti-immigrant stance.

Politico

Lacking tact in Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to always make headlines for the wrong reasons. Last week, he was in the news after a former Miss Turkey was convicted of insulting him on Instagram. Now, he's said women without children are "lacking" and "incomplete." How tactless.

Fortune

ASIA-PACIFIC

Selling in Selfridges

Meet Chitose Abe, the Japanese designer praised by Karl Lagerfeld. Abe, whose interest in fashion began as a child when she made clothes for her dolls, now sells her lines in high-end outlets such as Selfridges and Net-A-Porter.

Telegraph

The Pink Light Campaign

South Korea is taking caring for its pregnant women to a whole new level. The nation's second-largest city, Busan, is testing a wearable device for pregnant women on trains that lights up in pink to alert passengers that they should give up their seats to the expectant mothers. Not a bad idea.

New York Times

THE AMERICAS

A drop in female CEOs

As I mentioned in Monday's WMPW, the new Fortune 500 came out yesterday. This year's list has just 21 companies—4%—with female CEOs. That's down from 24 in both 2015 and 2014. On the list are Most Powerful Women honorees GM's Mary Barra, IBM's Ginni Rometty, and Pepsico's Indra Nooyi.

Fortune

Hillary clinches it

She did it. Hillary Clinton has become the first woman to secure the nomination of a major political party, according to a survey of Democratic superdelegates by the Associated Press.

Time

Joan Rivers's real passion

Turns out the comedian Joan Rivers, who always made me laugh out loud, was a passionate collector of Faberge pieces. If you're interested, 22 of her pieces will be auctioned at Christie's New York later this month, with a diamond and sapphire brooch going for an estimated $70,000 to $90,000.

Bloomberg