(Fortune) -- Brenda Barnes, Chairman and CEO of Sara Lee (Charts), ranks No. 6 on Fortune's 2006 list of 50 Most Powerful Women.

Barnes inherited a mish-mash of companies when she became CEO last year. So she began selling noncore businesses like Hanes apparel to focus on food. The divested units made up 40% of Sara Lee's revenues, which were $19.3 billion when Barnes took over and are expected to shrink to about $11.6 billion this year. The stock is still lagging, as Barnes has been forced to lower the company's long-term targets.

By the key criteria Fortune uses in assembling its annual list - the size, importance, and health of each business in the global economy, and the momentum of each woman's career (along with her social and cultural influence) - there's no question that the power of women in the corporate sphere is rising.

Indeed, it could be called the year of the Most Powerful Woman CEO. The top seven positions on Fortune's 2006 Most Powerful Women list are held by CEOs. They include: Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (Charts); Anne Mulcahy, Xerox (Charts); Meg Whitman, eBay (Charts); Pat Woertz, ADM (Charts); Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft Foods (Charts); and Andrea Jung, Avon (Charts).

Next: Full list: 50 Most Powerful Women at //money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen/1.html

Plus: Most Powerful Women: 10 Highest-Paid at //money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/womenpay/index.html