Female political leaders

Until the 20th century, the few women with political ambitions had to operate in the background as the "power behind the throne", backing up their husbands or lovers. As women got the vote in more and more countries, they began to climb the ladder. Many women that have got to the top in politics have been tougher, more decisive, and more practical than male leaders.

International

Female political leader	Dates of office	Position	Comments
Sirimavo Bandaranaike	1960-65, 1970–77, 1994-2000	Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)	The first female head of government in modern times. Paved the way for Gandhi, Meir and the "Iron Lady" herself.
Indira Gandhi	1966-77 & 1980-84	Prime Minister of India	India's aging power-brokers thought that Nehru's daughter would be a push-over. They got a dreadful shock...
Golda Meir	1969-74	Prime Minister of Israel	This strong-willed "grandmother of the Jewish people" won a magnificent victory over Arab aggression.
Isabel Martínez de Perón	1974-76	President of Argentina
Elisabeth Domitien	1975-76	Prime Minister of Central African Republic
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo	1979-80	Prime Minister of Portugal
Margaret Thatcher	1979-90	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	The "Iron Lady" struck fear into the hearts of trade unionists, the Soviet gerontocracy and enemies of freedom everywhere.
Eugenia Charles	1980-95	Prime Minister of Dominica
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	1980-96	President of Iceland
Gro Harlem Brundtland	1981, 1986–89, 1990–96	Prime Minister of Norway
Agatha Barbara	1982-87	President of Malta
Corazon Aquino	1986-92	President of the Philippines
Benazir Bhutto	1988-90 & 1993-96	Prime Minister of Pakistan	The first female head of government in a Muslim country.
Kazimira Prunskiene	1990-91	Prime Minister of Lithuania
Violeta Chamorro	1990-97	President of Nicaragua
Mary Robinson	1990-97	President of Ireland
Edith Cresson	1991-92	Prime Minister of France	Included because female leaders can sometimes be just as rubbish as male ones. When someone as useless as Cresson becomes PM, you know that women are starting to achieve equality with men.
Khaleda Zia	1991-96, 2001–06	Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Hanna Suchocka	1992-93	Prime Minister of Poland
Kim Campbell	1993	Prime Minister of Canada
Sylvie Kinigi	1993-94	Prime Minister of Burundi
Agathe Uwilingiyimana	1993-94	Prime Minister of Rwanda	Assassinated in the Rwandan Genocide
Tansu Ciller	1993-96	Prime Minister of Turkey
Chandrika Kumaratunga	1994	Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
Claudette Werleigh	1994-95	Prime Minister of Haiti
Chandrika Kumaratunga	1994-2005	President of Sri Lanka
Sheikh Hasina	1996-2001, 2009–present	Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Janet Jagan	1997	Prime Minister of Guyana
Janet Jagan	1997-99	President of Guyana
Jenny Shipley	1997-99	Prime Minister of New Zealand
Mary McAleese	1997-2011	President of Ireland
Mireya Moscoso	1999-2004	President of Panama
Vaira Vike-Freiberga	1999-2007	President of Latvia
Helen Clark	1999-2008	Prime Minister of New Zealand
Tarja Halonen	2000-12	President of Finland
Mame Madior Boye	2001-02	Prime Minister of Senegal
Megawati Sukarnoputri	2001-04	President of Indonesia
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo	2001-10	President of the Philippines
Maria das Neves	2002-04	Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe
Anneli Jäätteenmäki	2003	Prime Minister of Finland
Beatriz Merino	2003	Prime Minister of Peru
Luisa Diogo	2004-10	Prime Minister of Mozambique
Maria do Carmo Silveira	2005-06	Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe
Yulia Tymoshenko	2005, 2007–10	Prime Minister of Ukraine
Angela Merkel	2005–present	Chancellor of Germany	"The Second Iron Lady", "The Second Iron Chancellor"... She talks a lot of sense to irresponsible governments of other European countries.
Han Myeong-sook	2006-07	Prime Minister of South Korea
Portia Simpson-Miller	2006-07, 2012 – present	Prime Minister of Jamaica
Michelle Bachelet	2006-10 & 2014–18	President of Chile
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf	2006–present	President of Liberia
Pratibha Patil	2007-12	President of India
Micheline Calmy-Rey	2007 & 2011	President of the Federal Council of Switzerland	Member of the Federal Council 2003-11 (also a great singer!)
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	2007–present	President of Argentina
Zinaida Greceanii	2008-09	Prime Minister of Moldova
Michèle Pierre-Louis	2008-09	Prime Minister of Haiti
Corina Casanova	2008–present	Chancellor of Switzerland
Jadranka Kosor	2009-11	Prime Minister of Croatia
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir	2009-13	Prime Minister of Iceland	World's first openly lesbian head of government.
Dalia Grybauskaite	2009–present	President of Lithuania
Mari Kiviniemi	2010-11	Prime Minister of Finland
Roza Otunbayeva	2010-11	President of Kyrgyzstan
Iveta Radičová	2010-12	Prime Minister of Slovakia
Julia Gillard	2010-13	Prime Minister of Australia
Laura Chinchilla	2010-14	President of Costa Rica
Kamla Persad-Bissessar	2010–present	Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
Rosario Fernández	2011	Prime Minister of Peru
Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé	2011-12	Prime Minister of Mali
Yingluck Shinawatra	2011-14	Prime Minister of Thailand
Dilma Rousseff	2011–present	President of Brazil
Helle Thorning-Schmidt	2011–present	Prime Minister of Denmark
Joyce Banda	2012-14	President of Malawi
Alenka Bratusek	2013-14	Prime Minister of Slovenia
Aminata Touré	2013-14	Prime Minister of Senegal
Park Geun-hye	2013–present	President of South Korea
Erna Solberg	2013–present	Prime Minister of Norway
Ana Jara	2014-15	Prime Minister of Peru
Ewa Kopacz	2014–present	Prime Minister of Poland
Marie Louise Coleiro Preca	2014–present	President of Malta
Laimdota Straujuma	2014–present	Prime Minister of Latvia
Nicola Sturgeon	2014–present	First Minister of Scotland	A straight-talking, no-nonsense lady with a reputation for competence but not compromise.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic	2015–present	President of Croatia
Saara Kuugongelwa	2015–present	Prime Minister of Namibia
Simonetta Sommaruga	2015–present	President of Switzerland

United States

Female political leader	Dates of office	Position	Comments
Nellie Tayloe Ross	1925-27	Governor of Wyoming	Widow of Governor William Ross.
Miriam Ferguson	1925-27, 1933–35	Governor of Texas	Wife of Governor James Ferguson
Lurleen Wallace	1967-68	Governor of Alabama	Wife of Governor George Wallace
Ella Grasso	1975-80	Governor of Connecticut	First woman governor who was not the wife or widow of a prior governor.
Dixy Lee Ray	1977-81	Governor of Washington
Martha Layne Collins	1983-87	Governor of Kentucky
Geraldine Ferraro	1984	Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate	First woman to be on the presidential ticket of a major party
Madeleine Kunin	1985-91	Governor of Vermont
Kay Orr	1987-91	Governor of Nebraska
Rose Mofford	1988-91	Governor of Arizona
Joan Finney	1991-95	Governor of Kansas
Ann Richards	1991-95	Governor of Texas	Delivered keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
Barbara Roberts	1991-95	Governor of Oregon
Christine Todd Whitman	1994-2001	Governor of New Jersey
Jane Dee Hull	1997-2003	Governor of Arizona	Succeeded as governor on resignation of Fife Symington.
Jeanne Shaheen	1997-2003	Governor of New Hampshire
Judy Martz	2001-05	Governor of Montana
Ruth Ann Minner	2001-09	Governor of Delaware
Linda Lingle	2002-10	Governor of Hawaii
Olene S. Walker	2003-05	Governor of Utah
Janet Napolitano	2003-09	Governor of Arizona	Resigned to become President Barack Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security. In 2013, she became president of the University of California.
Kathleen Sebelius	2003-09	Governor of Kansas	Resigned to become President Barack Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Jennifer Granholm	2003-11	Governor of Michigan
Kathleen Blanco	2004-08	Governor of Louisiana
M. Jodi Rell	2004-11	Governor of Connecticut	Succeeded as governor on resignation of John Rowland.
Christine Gregoire	2005-13	Governor of Washington
Sarah Palin	2006-09	Governor of Alaska	Republican Party candidate for vice president in 2008
Nancy Pelosi	2007-11	Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Beverly Perdue	2009-13	Governor of North Carolina
Jan Brewer	2009-15	Governor of Arizona
Mary Fallin	2011–present	Governor of Oklahoma
Nikki Haley	2011–present	Governor of South Carolina
Susana Martinez	2011–present	Governor of New Mexico	First woman Hispanic governor of a state.
Maggie Hassan	2013–present	Governor of New Hampshire
Kate Brown	2015–present	Governor of Oregon
Gina Raimondo	2015–present	Governor of Rhode Island