38 Countries That Have Elected Women as Leaders
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2007-present)
Argentina also was the first country in the world to have a female president. In 1974, Isabel Peron, who was vice president at the time, succeeded her husband President Juan Peron after his death.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard (2010-2013)
Gillard was first appointed in 2010 as prime minister and then elected to the position later that year.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed (2009-present)
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia (1991-1996, 2001-2006)
Zia’s husband became president of the country in 1977 and was assassinated in 1981.
President Borjana Kristo (2007-2011)
Reuters / Wikimedia
President Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016)
Rouseff was impeached and removed from office in August 2016.
President Michelle Bachelet
(2006-2010, 2014-present)
President Laura Chinchilla
(2010-2014)
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (2015-present)
Jadranka Kosor was appointed prime minister in 2009 and served until 2011.
Reuters / Flickr
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt
(2011-2015)
Prime Minister Dame Eugenia Charles
(1980-1995)
President Tarja Halonen (2000-2012)
Mari Kiviniemi was appointed prime minister from 2010-2011 and Anneli Jaatteenmaki in 2003.
Reuters / Flickr
Chancellor Angela Merkel
(2005-present)
President Janet Jagan (1997-1999)
Jagan also served as the country’s first prime minister in 1997, and her husband was elected president in 1992.
President Vigdis Finnbogadottir (1980-1996)
Finnbogadottir was Europe's first female president and the world's first democratically elected female president.
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (2009-2013)
Sigurdardottir was first appointed to prime minister in 2009 and then elected later that year. She is also the world’s first openly lesbian head of government.
President Pratibha Patil (2007-2012)
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1966-1977, 1980-1984)
Gandhi’s father served as India’s first prime minister from 1947-1964.
President Mary Robinson (1990-1997)
President Mary McAleese (1997-2011)
McAleese was the world’s first woman to succeed another woman as president.
Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974)
Meir was first appointed prime minister in 1969 and then elected in 1971.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller
(2006-2007, 2012-2016)
President Atifete Jahjaga
(2011-2016)
Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma
(2014-2016)
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga
(1999-2007)
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
(2006-present)
President Dalia Grybauskaite
(2009-present)
President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca
(2014-present)
President Agatha Barbara
(1982-1987)
Prime Minister Helen Clark
(1999-2008)
Before Clark, Jenny Shippley was appointed to prime minister in 1997.
Reuters / Flickr
President Violeta de Chamorro (1990-1997)
Wikimedia / Flickr
Prime Minister Erna Solberg
(2013-present)
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland
(1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1996)
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1988-1990, 1993-1996)
Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who served as prime minister in the 1970s. She was assassinated in 2007.
President Mireya Moscoso
(1999-2004)
Her husband, Arnulfo Arias, was a three-time president of the country until he went into exile after military coup.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2001-2010)
Arroyo is the daughter of former Philippines President Diosdado Macapagal. She succeeded President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and was elected again in 2004.
President Corazon Aquino
(1986-1992)
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz
(2014-2015)
Hanna Suchocka was appointed prime minister in 1992.
Reuters / Flickr
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova
(2010-2012)
Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek
(2013-2014)
President Park Geun-hye
(2013-present)
Additionally, Han Myung Sook was appointed the country’s prime minister in 2006.
Reuters / Flickr
President Chandrika Kumaratunga (1994-2005)
Kumaratunga’s mother and father both served as prime minister.
Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960-1965, 1970-1977, 1994-2000)
Bandaranaike was the wife of previous prime minister Solomon Bandaranaike. She was the modern world's first female head of government.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
(2011-2014)
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
(2010-2015)
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
In office Jan. 24, 2005-Sept. 8, 2005, 2007-2010 (elected)
Prime Minister Theresa May
(2016-present)
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
(1979-1990)