Rappler's Ressa, Converge's Uy Raise PH Flag in Forbes' 50 Over 50: Why It Matters

Two Filipino women made it to Forbes' 50 Over 50 in Asia List for 2022, the trade magazine said, giving inspiration by shattering age and gender norms. 

During a pandemic that has pushed a disproportionate number of women out of the workforce, Forbes named Rappler boss Maria Ressa and Converge co-founder and President Maria Grace Uy as among Asia's top founders, business and political leaders, scientists and vanguards.

Forbes recognized Ressa "for her work defending press freedom" that made her the 18th-ever female Nobel Peace Prize laureate last year at 58 years old. 

"Her sharp coverage of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war has been met with consistent threats from the Philippine government, which has filed 10 arrest warrants for cyber libel and other complaints against her. She faces jail time of up to 100 years, but she is insistent in her urge that all journalists use truth to hold power accountable," wrote Forbes editor Maggie McGrath on Ressa. 

Forbes, lauded Uy for her leadership of Converge, one of the largest fixed broadband operators in the Philippines, whose clientele grew to 25% of Filipino households in 2021, and whose valuation is now at $4.6 billion.

"In 2019, at age 50, Uy led negotiations for a $250 million investment from Warburg Pincus that bolstered the company’s fiber network to cover 25% of Filipino households," Forbes noted, adding how the company went public in late 2020 in one of the country’s largest-ever IPOs, which caused its shares to balloon by 70%.

The global version of the list is headlined by the U.S. first female vice president Kamala Harris, biochemist Katalin Karikó, whose life-long work on messenger RNA laid the foundations for Pfizer and Moderna's COVID vaccines, as well as Hollywood's highest-paid showrunner Shonda Rhimes, whose Bridgerton series was hailed one of Netflix's biggest series ever in 2021. 

Selected from a pool of more than 10,000 nominees, Forbes' 50 over 50 seeks to recognize the feats of older women,  redefining their after-50 life as the "new golden age". In society, women get less visible with age, unlike men, as shown by their limited representation in popular culture.

"For these dynamic women, growing older is about getting wiser—and bolder. Meet the inaugural class of entrepreneurs, leaders and creators who are part of an exhilarating movement redefining life’s second half and proving that success has no age limit," it said. 

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