TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Do women still become powerful by marriage? “Actually, to say that Michelle Obama is the most powerful woman in the world is not merely absurd; it is retrograde, and misogynist, a tediously sexist take from the power-behind-the-throne school of political theory (which holds that women can only wield power through husbands and sons). In any case, if true, first-equal should go to Liu Yongquing, except the latter doesn’t go parading around fancy European resorts spending her husband’s book royalties and the taxpayers’ money. One strike against Mrs. Hu Jintao, however, is that there is no evidence that she’s a ‘forceful advocate for school nutrition,’ work for which Forbes doffs its cap at Michelle.”