Women Who Became Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors

Sixty-three women from forty-seven countries have been elected or appointed to serve as prime minister, president, or chancellor. In the US, only thirty-one women from twenty-three states have ever been governor.

Women lead seventeen countries on five continents. The countries with women leaders are: Germany, Ireland, Finland, Chile, Philippines, Liberia, Mozambique, India, Argentina, Ukraine, Moldova, Bangladesh, Iceland, Gabon, Croatia, Lithuania, and Switzerland.

In addition to the above, eleven women have served as acting head of state or head of government: Suhbaataryn Yanjmaa, Mongolia, 09/1953 - 07/1954; Carmen Periera, Guinea-Bissau, 05/1984; Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, German Democratic Republic, 04/1990 - 10/1990; Rodalia Serrano de Cordova, Ecuador, 02/1997; Irina Degutienë, Lithuania, 04/1999; Nyam-Osoriyn Tuyaa, Mongolia, 07/1999; Natasa Micic, Serbia, 12/2002 - 02/2004; Nino Burdschanadse, Georgia, 11/2003 - 01/2004; Radmila Sekerinska, Macedonia, 05/2004 - 06/2004, 11/2004 - 12/2004; Barbara Prammer, Austria, 07/2004; Dalia Itzik, Israel, 01/2007 - 07/2007. Also, Captain Regent is the title for the head of state in San Marino and ten women have held that position.

Aung San Suu Kyi would have become prime minister of Myanmar (Burma) after her party won 80% of the seats in the parliament in a democratic election in 1990.  However, the military government refused to recognize the results of the election.  She later won the Nobel Peace prize for her non-violent leadership.

In 1981, two weeks before her death, Soong Ching-Ling, Vice Chair of the People's Republic of China and known as the "mother of the nation", was named Honorary President of the People's Republic of China.

References: Inter-Parliamentary Union, Zárate's Political Collections, Guide to Women Leaders

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in Government and Democracy

Equal Representation –The Essence of Democracy                       Updated 2010-01-18