Four women from the Gulf have made the Forbes 100 most powerful women list for 2014, which was released this week, Al Arabiya reported.
The UAE's Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi was ranked 55th and was the first woman to assume a Cabinet position in the UAE, having joined as Minister of Economy in 2004.
Al-Qasimi rose from last year's rank of 67. The high-flyer earned her bachelor's degree in computer science from California State University of Chico in 1981 and has an executive MBA from the American University in Sharjah in the UAE.
Emirati business woman Fatima al-Jabbir, chairperson of the Emirates Business Women Council, was ranked 94th, the first time she has made the list.
Meanwhile, Saudi businesswoman Lubna Olayan was ranked in the 86th spot and Maysa al-Thani of Qatar was placed 91st for her charity work.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel retained her top ranking for the second year in a row. Rounding out the top five were Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund.