Forbes has published its 50 Over 50: Innovation 2026 list, which includes 50 women over the age of 50 who continue to exert a significant influence on science, medicine, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, space research, industry and the technology business. The ranking was published on August 11, 2026, and is part of the broader Forbes 50 Over 50 project, which includes a total of 200 women in four categories — Innovation, Impact, Investment and Lifestyle.
An important clarification is that Forbes does not assign all 50 participants positions from No. 1 to No. 50. On the main Innovation page, the names are listed alphabetically. The de facto exception was Ritu Narayan, founder of the transportation startup Zum, whom both the company and the entrepreneur herself describe as the “No. 1 honoree” in the Innovation category and the face of the issue’s cover. However, Forbes did not publish a complete numerical ranking of the remaining 49 positions.
Narayan, who grew up in India and built her career in Silicon Valley, created Zum, a technology platform modernizing the U.S. school bus system using artificial intelligence, GPS and electric vehicles. Forbes values the startup at approximately $1.7 billion, with 2025 revenue of $333 million.
The 50 honorees also include Stanford professor Zhenan Bao, who works on electronic skin and wearable electronics; 2025 Nobel Prize laureate Mary Brunkow; NASA science program leader Nicola Fox; MIT School of Engineering dean Paula Hammond; MIT professor and developer of wireless medical technologies Dina Katabi; Takeda head Julie Kim; astrophysicist and dean of MIT’s School of Science Nergis Mavalvala; former Yahoo chief and Dazzle AI founder Marissa Mayer; HubSpot chief Yamini Rangan; Cummins leader Jennifer Rumsey, and many others.
An analysis by Experts.News reveals an interesting geography of the list. Forbes itself does not publish separate statistics by nationality, so it is more accurate to speak about the countries of birth and origins of the participants. By this measure, the United States clearly dominates: most of the women in the Innovation-50 were born and built their careers specifically within the American scientific and entrepreneurial environment.
Among the participants born outside the United States, several countries stand out. Serbia is represented by two natives — Vunjak-Novakovic and Matarić. India — Ritu Narayan and Yamini Rangan. China — Zhenan Bao and Michelle Zhou. Morocco — Bahija Jallal and Wafaa Mamilli. Serbia therefore belongs to a small group of countries that produced two participants in the Innovation-50. Zhou’s Chinese origin is confirmed by the Association for Computing Machinery, while Mamilli herself lists Casablanca as her city of birth; Roche lists her citizenships as French, Moroccan and U.S.
Among other countries, Pakistan, Syria, South Korea, Thailand, France, the United Kingdom and Israel each have one participant on the list. For example, Nergis Mavalvala was born in Lahore, Pakistan; Dina Katabi in Damascus; Julie Kim in Seoul; Thai Lee in Thailand; Aude Oliva in France; Nicola Fox in Hitchin, England; and Daphne Zohar in Israel.
At the same time, the list’s main geographical conclusion concerns not so much passports as the concentration of talent within the American innovation ecosystem. Even most of the women born in Serbia, India, China, Pakistan, Syria, South Korea or France now work at American universities and companies — MIT, Stanford, Columbia, USC, Berkeley, HubSpot, Cummins and other organizations. Four participants on the list are associated with MIT alone — Paula Hammond, Dina Katabi, Nergis Mavalvala and Aude Oliva.
For a Ukrainian audience, it is notable that there are no Ukraine-born women in the Forbes 50 Over 50: Innovation 2026 category. However, the structure of the list itself demonstrates a model that is also relevant to Ukraine: a significant share of the most successful scientists and technology entrepreneurs are migrants or people originating from other countries who developed and implemented their innovations after integrating into major international universities, research centers and venture ecosystems. In this respect, the example of the two women born in Belgrade is particularly illustrative for Eastern European countries.
The full Innovation-50 includes Maya Ajmera, Lauren Antonoff, Katrina Armstrong, Zhenan Bao, Wendy Barnes, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Karen Blanks Ellis, Marsha Anderson Bomar, Christine Brown, Mary Brunkow, Jennifer Tour Chayes, Karen S. Carter, Margaret Dawson, Cindy Eckert, Karen Eng, Katie Farmer, Nicola Fox, Paula T. Hammond, Lisa Harris, Lisa Gelobter, Jacqueline Hinman, Colette D. Honorable, Janice Bryant Howroyd, Bahija Jallal, Sabrina Martucci Johnson, Dina Katabi, Julie Kim, Debra Laskin, Tessa Lau, Thai Lee, Emily Liman, Wafaa Mamilli, Christina Maslach, Maja Matarić, Nergis Mavalvala, Marissa Mayer, Vivienne Ming, Aude Oliva, Ritu Narayan, Yamini Rangan, Shubhi Rao, Jennifer Rumsey, Heather Shoemaker, Ellen Stofan, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Susie Wee, Beth Wozniak, Laura Yecies, Michelle Zhou and Daphne Zohar.
Thus, the 2026 Forbes list demonstrates two trends at once. The first is that an innovation career after the age of 50 increasingly continues for decades and can lead to major scientific and entrepreneurial achievements well beyond the traditional career peak. The second is that the United States remains the main center of attraction for such specialists, while simultaneously making use of the talents of scientists and entrepreneurs born in dozens of other countries.
Original source: Forbes — 2026 50 Over 50: Innovation
During the war, the proportion of women among the unemployed rose to 81%, Stanislav Pavlenko, deputy director of the State Employment Center (SEC), said in comments to the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency on Monday.
“While women accounted for 55% of the unemployed before the start of the full-scale war, today that proportion has risen to 81%,” Pavlenko said.
He also added that a pilot program has been in effect since 2025, allowing Ukrainian women to learn trades in fields traditionally considered male-dominated.
“Under the program’s terms, training is provided in 31 professions. A mandatory condition is that women must be employed upon completion of their training,” Pavlenko said.
Since the beginning of the year, 402 women have been enrolled in such training as part of the project.
At the same time, Pavlenko noted that “in Ukraine, data on the unemployment rate is calculated by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine based on labor force surveys.” However, starting in 2022, the results of these surveys have not been published by the statistics agency.
“According to the latest published data, in 2021 the unemployment rate (based on the methodology of the International Labor Organization) among the population aged 15–70 stood at 9.9% of the labor force,” said the official from the State Employment Service.
Labor market, State Employment Service, UNEMPLOYMENT, vocational training, WOMEN
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has lifted all restrictions on border crossings for all women without exception, regardless of their positions, Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko announced.
“The government is lifting restrictions on border crossings for all women without exception, regardless of their positions in state authorities, local self-government bodies, state-owned enterprises, and courts,” Sviridenko wrote on her Telegram channel.
As previously reported, in early May, the government lifted restrictions on travel abroad for a specific category of female officials. At that time, it was noted that the changes did not apply to the highest-ranking state officials, key heads of state authorities and their deputies, specifically members of the Cabinet of Ministers, the leadership of ministries and central executive bodies, the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Bank, as well as to members of parliament, judges of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General, and heads of state-owned enterprises and state bodies whose jurisdiction extends throughout the territory of Ukraine.
The law allows women with medical and pharmaceutical education to be registered for military service without their personal presence, but there are no mechanisms for the forced conscription of such women from abroad, lawyers interviewed by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency explained.
“The obligation to register for military service does indeed exist. If a person is physically outside Ukraine, they must notify the territorial recruitment center at their place of registration, in particular by email, that they are temporarily abroad. However, there is no mechanism that would allow the state to forcibly return a citizen to fulfill this obligation. This also applies to those who are abroad under the temporary protection mechanism,” said Zoryana Skaletska, partner at Ario Law Firm and Minister of Health in 2019-2020.
She noted that in the context of military registration of women with medical or pharmaceutical education, “it is important to distinguish between the concepts of ‘compulsory’ and ‘automatic’ registration.”
“Compulsory always means restriction of freedom, and we do not have such mechanisms. However, automatic registration is indeed provided for. The Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution of July 30, 2025, allows such women to be registered for military service without their personal presence,” she said.
Skaletskaya explained that there are currently three mechanisms through which women with medical or pharmaceutical education can be entered into the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Military Service Obligators, and Reservists: through an educational institution, through a personal message, and through an employer.
“Thus, ‘automatic registration’ actually takes place through official notification of the educational institution or employer, but does not imply coercion or physical control by the state,” Skaletskaya noted.
She also emphasized that the law does not provide for separate liability specifically for women with medical or pharmaceutical education who have not registered for military service, since there are now general rules on violations of the law on military duty and military service, which provide for a fine of 850 to 1,700 hryvnia.
“Theoretically, this article can also be applied to women who have the relevant education but have not applied to the TCC and SP, especially if they are not employed and received their diploma many years ago. However, in practice, the application of this norm is still limited,” she noted.
Skaletskaya pointed out that the TCC and SP will only be able to automatically identify such persons when the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Military Service Obligators, and Reservists has technical access to the Ministry of Education’s diploma database.
“Currently, such interaction between the registers has not been introduced, so we do not see active prosecution of female medical professionals who have not registered,” she said.
Skaletskaya pointed out that “the practice of submitting information about female graduates of medical institutions to military registration and enlistment offices existed even before the current changes, but now we have another problem: the data in the registers is often not updated.”
“If we talk about the practical meaning of this control, its purpose is not punishment, but the ability to quickly recruit medical specialists if necessary for the defense sector. But it is important to understand that even in this case, a woman can only be recruited after passing a military medical commission (VVC), and not all of them are recognized as fit for service based on its results,” the lawyer emphasized.
She also noted that military registration control applies to all enterprises regardless of ownership, including private clinics.
For her part, Galina Chernyakina, a lawyer at Barristers, noted that the registration of women with medical or pharmaceutical education is exclusively a registration measure and is not equivalent to mobilization, i.e., it does not in itself mean compulsory conscription or military service without a corresponding decision by the state.
At the same time, she noted that “restrictions on traveling abroad during martial law apply exclusively to male citizens of Ukraine between the ages of 18 and 60 who are subject to military registration and mobilization, while women who have medical or pharmaceutical education and are subject to military service are not restricted in their right to travel abroad, even during a period of general mobilization.”
“Accordingly, women who are abroad under a temporary protection program or on other grounds cannot be forcibly returned to Ukraine for military registration, mobilization, or military service,” she said.
Chernyakina noted that the main type of liability for violating military registration rules is administrative, which provides for fines, and criminal liability can only arise in the case of actual evasion of mobilization after receiving a summons.
“However, so far, the practice of bringing women who are subject to military registration in accordance with the law to administrative or criminal responsibility is rare,” she said.
Source: https://ru.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1114670.html
Barristers, LAWYER, LEGISLATION, military registration, pharmaceutical education, WOMEN, Чернякіна
This is the highest figure in recent years
More than 43 thousand fops in Ukraine in 2024 were created by women, according to the Unified State Register. This is more than half of the total number of newly created sole proprietorships in the first quarter of this year. Women most often open businesses in retail, personal and information services. Men are more likely to choose computer programming and wholesale trade.
43,554 new sole proprietorships were created by women in the first quarter of 2024. This is more than half – 59% – of the total number of new businesses and a record high in recent years. Men opened 30,496 new businesses in the same period. For comparison, in 2021, the share of women was 51% of the total number of newly created fops.
Most often, women entrepreneurs choose retail trade (68% of women and 32% of men), other personal services (89% of women and 11% of men), and information services (63% of women and 37% of men).
At the same time, men are more likely to choose computer programming (58% of men and 42% of women) and wholesale trade (52% of men and 48% of women).
Finland is the best country in the EU for women in the workplace, a new study has revealed. Personal finance experts Finansvalp analysed Eurostat data on seats held by women in national parliaments, women in senior management positions, and the 2022 median net income by gender in the 27 EU member countries. Each country was given a gender-equality score out of 50 and ranked from worst to best.
Finland topped the study as the best country for gender equality in the workplace. The country ranked above every other destination due to a high percentage of women in senior roles nationwide. Women make up 72.4% of seats in the national government, the highest percentage of any country in the EU. Finland also placed second for the share of women in seats at national parliament with 46%. Despite a high volume of women taking on senior positions in the country, the gender pay gap still seems to be an issue in Finland. The median net income for men in 2022 sat at €27,353, while women earned 6.04% less on average with €25,719.
Portugal fell just short of Finland, ranking second for gender equality in the workplace. In 2022, the median net income in Portugal was higher for women than men, positioning the country as the only EU nation where female workers earn more on average. Women took home a median net income of €11,038, 0.53% more than the median wage of €10,979 for men. While annual earnings propelled Portugal near the top of the study, the country had the sixth lowest share of female executives, with women counting for only 16.9% of executives at Portugal’s largest publicly listed companies.
France claimed third spot on the study of the EU countries with the most gender-equal workplaces. The country rated high for gender equality thanks to a large percentage of women in leadership roles in some of its biggest publicly listed companies. Women made up 46.1% of board members at these major corporations, the highest percentage of any EU country. One of every four executives at the same companies are women (29%), second only behind Lithuania.
Sweden placed fourth on the study for gender equality in the workplace. The country is home to the most gender-equal parliament in the EU. Approximately 46.6% of seats in the national parliament are held by females, more than any other nation. Sweden also has the fourth-highest percentage of female executives at the country’s large public organisations, with women representing 28.6% of all executives.
The Netherlands rounded out the top five EU countries for women in employment. The country ranked high for female representation in the national government (53.6%) and national parliament (29%). While women make up a large proportion of seats at government and parliament level, men still tend to earn more on average in the Netherlands. According to the 2022 median net income, men earn 5.28% more than women in the country.
Belgium is home to the sixth most gender-equal workplaces in the EU. More than half (55%) of the seats in Belgium’s national government are held by women, the second-highest percentage of any nation in the study. The country’s female representation also remains high at parliament level as well, with females taking 42.9% of all seats. Belgium also has the 11th lowest gender pay gap in the EU, with the median net income of men 3.37% higher than women.
Denmark secured seventh place on the study of the best EU countries for women to work. The country ranked high due to having the 8th lowest gender pay gap in the EU (3.03%) and large proportion of women in senior roles across the nation. Precisely 44.1% of seats at Denmark’s national parliament are held by females, with only Sweden and Finland having a higher rate in the EU. The country also has the third-highest rate of female board members at its largest publicly listed companies (41.4%), just below France and Italy.
Spain, Germany, and Lithuania filled out the top 10 EU countries with the most gender-equal workplaces. Spain and Germany rated high for female representation at government and parliament level, while Lithuania claimed 10th place on the study thanks to the highest share of female executives of any EU nation.
Table: The EU countries with the most gender-equal workplaces
Olle Pettersson, finance expert and CEO of Finansvalp, commented on the study: “In the last 20 years, the number of women holding seats at national government and national parliament level in the EU has risen by over 50%, while the share of female board members at the largest publicly listed companies has exploded by 312%.
“If the trend of greater female representation continues in senior positions across the EU, we should hopefully see the gender pay gap reduce, making many countries more inclusive places for women to work.”
The full table of results can be accessed here.
Sources: Eurostat
