Top 5 female Pokemon Gym leaders

There have been several female Pokemon Gym leaders throughout the history of both the anime and games.

Some women gym leaders in the Pokemon franchise are more notable than others based on their personality and capabilities as trainers. The list incorporates both girls who make appearances in older and more recent in games and shows.

Here are the top five female Pokemon Gym leaders.

Note: This article reflects the personal opinion of the writer.

Top 5 Gym leaders in Pokemon that were female

#5 - Janine

Janine is the leader of the Fuchsia City Gym, a role she took up after her father (Koga) was promoted to the Elite Four. She is especially skilled at using Poison-type Pokemon and awards the Soul Badge to players who beat her.

Janine made her Pokemon debut in the Generation II games, where she is not only regarded as a skilled Gym leader, but also a master of ninja skills.

#4 - Clair

Clair in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Leader of the Blackthorn City Gym, Clair has been in Pokemon games and shows. She specializes in the use of Dragon-types, and awards the Rising Badge to challengers who manage to defeat her.

There's a reason why Clair is the last Gym leader a player must face before they can advance to the Indigo Plateau and challenge the Elite Four. She boasts several extremely powerful Pokemon and always remains confident in battle.

#3 - Sabrina

Sabrina in the Pokemon anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Sabrina, leader of the Saffron City Gym, specializes in using Psychic-type Pokemon to defeat challengers who wish to obtain the Marsh Badge from her.

This female gym leader has appeared in both the Pokemon games and anime, where she has always been a difficult trainer to defeat. Sabrina's character is quite mysterious and off-putting, and it is known that she is able to communicate with her Pokemon telepathically using her own psychic powers.

#2 - Marnie

Marnie and her entourage (Image via Game Freak)

Marnie is a very unique female character that was introduced in the Pokemon Sword and Shield games. Here she fills a variety of roles including being one of the player's rivals, a member of the infamous Team Yell, and eventually the Spikemuth Gym leader.

Marnie specializes in using Dark-type Pokemon and its easy to prove how popular she is as a trainer with all the members of Team Yell constantly following her around. She is an impressive and challenging Gym leader and has a personality not often seen in Pokemon games.

#1 - Misty

Misty was a traveling companion of Ash Ketchum in the Pokemon anime. She is also the Cerulean City Gym leader in both the show as well as a number of the franchise's games.

Misty's is best described as a person who won't take anything from anyone, though this often times comes across as her being stubborn and hardheaded. Nonetheless, she is easily the most iconic female Gym leader in Pokemon overall - with her go-get-em attitude, her entertaining remarks throughout the show, and her skills as a Water-type trainer.