With Hillary Clinton still the favorite to win the 2016 elections, the possibility that a woman will become president of the US seems closer than ever. But over the last month, the historic importance of having a woman hold the most powerful office in the world has been overshadowed by Donald Trump’s sexism. The conversation moved from empowerment and feminism to having to explain why it is not OK to objectify and assault women. Even so, Hillary Clinton remains, as she likes to say, the biggest crack in the glass ceiling, no matter the outcome of the race.
Clinton’s achievement would be a first—for America, that is. While the world is certainly nowhere near gender equality—in political representation, or otherwise—women have been elected to run countries for years, all over the world. With the exclusion of monarchs, over 170 women have been elected, appointed, or acted as heads of state or government in the modern era, beginning with Yevgenia Bosch who, in 1917, briefly functioned as acting leader of the Soviet government of Ukraine. She was followed in 1940 by Khertek Amyrbitovna Anchimaa-Toka of Tuva, a partially recognized state in territories that were once part of imperial Russia. Anchimaa-Toka was the first female head of state in the modern era who had not inherited her title.
Several of these women were appointed, rather than elected or, like Bosch, only acted temporarily as prime minister, or president. Yet, the count of women who have been effectively leading countries—as heads of state, heads of government or, as it would be in Clinton’s case, both—is larger than some may think.
Overall in modern history, 77 women have been outright elected to serve as prime ministers, presidents, and, as in the case of Janet Jagan of Guyana, both. American-born, Jagan became prime minister after the death of her husband, the country’s president, in 1997; in the same year, she ran for president, winning the election. Today, 12 countries have a woman as chief executive of the government, commander-in-chief, or both.
The trend also appears encouraging for female leadership. In the 1960s, only three women led countries. The first, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was elected in 1960, followed by India’s Indira Gandhi in 1966 and Israel’s Golda Meir in 1969. By the 1990s, that number was up to 22—and in the 2010s so far it’s already 30.
Name | Country | Office | Election | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner | Argentina | President | 10-Dec-07 | 8 years |
Julia Gillard | Australia | Prime Minister | 24-Jun-10 | 3 years, 3 days |
Khaleda Zia | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 27-Feb-91 | 5 years, 32 days |
Sheikh Hasina | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 12-Jun-96 | 5 years, 33 days |
Khaleda Zia | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 1-Oct-01 | 5 years, 28 days |
Sheikh Hasina | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 6-Jan-09 | 7 years, 301 days |
Jennifer M. Smith | Bermuda | Premier | 9-Dec-98 | 4 years, 227 days |
Dilma Rousseff | Brazil | President | 1-Jan-11 | 5 years, 243 days |
Sylvie Kinigi | Burundi | Prime Minister | 10-Jul-93 | 109 days |
Kim Campbell | Canada | Prime Minister | 25-Jun-93 | 132 days |
Elisabeth Domitien | Central African Republic | Prime Minister | 2-Jan-75 | 1 year, 96 days |
Michelle Bachelet | Chile | President | 11-Mar-06 | 4 years |
Michelle Bachelet | Chile | President | 11-Mar-14 | 2 years, 236 days |
Laura Chinchilla | Costa Rica | President | 8-May-10 | 4 years, 0 days |
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović | Croatia | President | 19-Feb-15 | 1 year, 257 days |
Jadranka Kosor | Croatia | Prime Minister | 6-Jul-09 | 2 years, 170 days |
Helle Thorning-Schmidt | Denmark | Prime Minister | 3-Oct-11 | 3 years, 268 days |
Dame Eugenia Charles | Dominica | Prime Minister | 21-Jul-80 | 14 years, 328 days |
Tarja Halonen | Finland | President | 1-Mar-00 | 12 years |
Anneli Jäätteenmäki | Finland | Prime Minister | 17-Apr-03 | 68 days |
Mari Kiviniemi | Finland | Prime Minister | 22-Jun-10 | 1 year |
Édith Cresson | France | Prime Minister | 15-May-91 | 323 days |
Angela Merkel | Germany | Chancellor | 22-Nov-05 | 10 years, 346 days |
Janet Jagan | Guyana | Prime Minister | 6-Dec-97 | 1 year, 327 days |
Janet Jagan | Guyana | President | 19-Dec-97 | 1 year, 235 days |
Claudette Werleigh | Haiti | Prime Minister | 7-Nov-95 | 112 days |
Michèle Pierre-Louis | Haiti | Prime Minister | 5-Sep-08 | 1 year, 67 days |
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir | Iceland | President | 1-Aug-80 | 16 years |
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir | Iceland | Prime Minister | 1-Feb-09 | 4 years, 111 days |
Indira Gandhi | India | Prime Minister | 24-Jan-66 | 11 years, 90 days |
Indira Gandhi | India | Prime Minister | 15-Jan-80 | 4 years, 290 days |
Mary Robinson | Ireland | President | 3-Dec-90 | 6 years, 283 days |
Mary McAleese | Ireland | President | 11-Nov-97 | 13 years, 364 days |
Golda Meir | Israel | Prime Minister | 17-Mar-69 | 5 years, 78 days |
Portia Simpson-Miller | Jamaica | Prime Minister | 30-Mar-06 | 1 year, 165 days |
Portia Simpson-Miller | Jamaica | Prime Minister | 5-Jan-12 | 4 years, 58 days |
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga | Latvia | President | 8-Jul-99 | 8 years |
Laimdota Straujuma | Latvia | Prime Minister | 22-Jan-14 | 2 years, 20 days |
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | Liberia | President | 16-Jan-06 | 10 years, 291 days |
Dalia Grybauskaitė | Lithuania | President | 12-Jul-09 | 7 years, 113 days |
Kazimira Prunskienė | Lithuania | Prime Minister | 17-Mar-90 | 299 days |
Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé | Mali | Prime Minister | 3-Apr-11 | 354 days |
Hilda Heine | Marshall Islands | President | 28-Jan-16 | 279 days |
Zinaida Greceanîi | Moldova | Prime Minister | 31-Mar-08 | 1 year, 167 days |
Luísa Diogo | Mozambique | Prime Minister | 17-Feb-04 | 5 years, 333 days |
Aung San Suu Kyi | Myanmar | State Counsellor | 6-Apr-16 | 210 days |
Saara Kuugongelwa | Namibia | Prime Minister | 21-Mar-15 | 1 year, 226 days |
Jenny Shipley | New Zealand | Prime Minister | 5-Dec-97 | 2 years |
Helen Clark | New Zealand | Prime Minister | 5-Dec-99 | 8 years, 350 days |
Violeta Chamorro | Nicaragua | President | 25-Apr-90 | 6 years, 260 days |
Sibel Siber | Northern Cyprus | Prime Minister | 13-Jun-13 | 81 days |
Gro Harlem Brundtland | Norway | Prime Minister | 4-Feb-81 | 252 days |
Gro Harlem Brundtland | Norway | Prime Minister | 9-May-86 | 3 years, 160 days |
Gro Harlem Brundtland | Norway | Prime Minister | 3-Nov-90 | 5 years, 357 days |
Erna Solberg | Norway | Prime Minister | 16-Oct-13 | 3 years, 17 days |
Benazir Bhutto | Pakistan | Prime Minister | 2-Dec-88 | 1 year, 216 days |
Benazir Bhutto | Pakistan | Prime Minister | 19-Oct-93 | 3 years, 17 days |
Mireya Moscoso | Panama | President | 1-Sep-99 | 5 years |
Beatriz Merino | Peru | President of the Council of Ministers | 28-Jun-03 | 170 days |
Rosario Fernández | Peru | President of the Council of Ministers | 19-Mar-11 | 131 days |
Ana Jara | Peru | President of the Council of Ministers | 22-Jul-14 | 254 days |
Corazon Aquino | Philippines | President | 25-Feb-86 | 6 years, 126 days |
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo | Philippines | President | 20-Jan-01 | 9 years, 161 days |
Hanna Suchocka | Poland | Prime Minister | 11-Jul-92 | 1 year, 106 days |
Ewa Kopacz | Poland | Prime Minister | 22-Sep-14 | 1 year, 55 days |
Beata Szydło | Poland | Prime Minister | 16-Nov-15 | 352 days |
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo | Portugal | Prime Minister | 1-Jul-79 | 186 days |
Agathe Uwilingiyimana | Rwanda | Prime Minister | 18-Jul-93 | 263 days |
Maria das Neves | São Tomé and Príncipe | Prime Minister | 3-Oct-02 | 1 year, 351 days |
Maria do Carmo Silveira | São Tomé and Príncipe | Prime Minister | 8-Jun-05 | 317 days |
Mame Madior Boye | Senegal | Prime Minister | 3-Mar-01 | 1 year, 246 days |
Aminata Touré | Senegal | Prime Minister | 1-Sep-13 | 310 days |
Iveta Radičová | Slovakia | Prime Minister | 8-Jul-10 | 1 year, 271 days |
Alenka Bratušek | Slovenia | Prime Minister | 20-Mar-13 | 1 year, 182 days |
Park Geun-hye | South Korea | President | 25-Feb-13 | 3 years, 251 days |
Han Myeong-sook | South Korea | Prime Minister | 19-Apr-06 | 322 days |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Sri Lanka (Ceylon) | Prime Minister | 21-Jul-60 | 4 years, 249 days |
Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Sri Lanka (Ceylon) | Prime Minister | 29-May-70 | 7 years, 55 days |
Chandrika Kumaratunga | Sri Lanka | President | 12-Nov-94 | 11 years, 7 days |
Tsai Ing-wen | Taiwan | President | 20-May-16 | 166 days |
Yingluck Shinawatra | Thailand | Prime Minister | 3-Jul-11 | 2 years, 308 days |
Tatiana Turanskaya | Transnistria | Prime Minister | 10-Jun-13 | 2 years, 125 days |
Tatiana Turanskaya | Transnistria | Prime Minister | 30-Nov-15 | 2 days |
Kamla Persad-Bissessar | Trinidad and Tobago | Prime Minister | 26-May-10 | 5 years, 106 days |
Tansu Çiller | Turkey | Prime Minister | 13-Jun-93 | 2 years, 267 days |
Yulia Tymoshenko | Ukraine | Prime Minister | 24-Jan-05 | 225 days |
Yulia Tymoshenko | Ukraine | Prime Minister | 18-Dec-07 | 2 years, 75 days |
Margaret Thatcher | United Kingdom | Prime Minister | 4-May-79 | 11 years, 208 days |
Theresa May | United Kingdom | Prime Minister | 13-Jul-16 | 112 days |
Milka Planinc | Yugoslavia | Prime Minister | 16-May-82 | 3 years, 364 days |
(Data via: Council of Women World Leaders, Wikipedia, Worldwide guide to women in leadership)
Update: The table has been updated to include Jennifer M. Smith, premier of Bermuda. The map was updated to include Indonesia.