Female billionaires list grows

Women are moving up in the ranks of self-made billionaires. On June 8, 2010, Meg Whitman became the first Republican woman to be nominated for Governor of California. At age 54 with a net worth of about $1.3 billion, Whitman transferred her wealth to fund a $70 million campaign that she hopes to double to buy her way to the governorship.

Whitman utilized her business expertise to move up the corporate ladder by helping companies like Procter & Gamble, Disney, and in 1998 the once small web start-up eBay. Now, she's part of the small group of 14 women in the world who are self-made billionaires without inherited fortunes from their families or husbands. When compared to the list of 665 male self made billionaires including Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the struggles for women remain evident. But note all the Chinese women on the list.