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On 21 July 1960, following a landslide victory for the Freedom Party, Bandaranaike was sworn in as the first female prime minister in the world, as well as Minister of Defence and External Affairs.
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The first woman in the modern world to run a country hailed from Southeast Asia. Many have followed.
The modern world’s first elected female head of government was Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who in 1960 became prime minister of Sri Lanka, the island nation in South Asia then known as Ceylon. Bandaranaike came to power a year after the assassination of her husband, who was prime minister at the time, and served in office from 1960 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1977.
The couple’s daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, also joined the family political dynasty and was Sri Lanka’s first woman president, from 1994 to 2005. Bandaranaike served a third term as prime minister (a role which by then was primarily ceremonial, as a result of a constitutional change) from 1994 until her resignation in August 2000; she died two months later of a heart attack at age 84.
The same decade Bandaranaike launched her political career, India and Israel each elected their first women prime ministers. Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, held office from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. Golda Meir, Israel’s only female prime minister so far, served from 1969 to 1974.
Groundbreaking Women in Politics
Four years later, in 1979, Britain chose its first woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who was also the first female elected head of government in Europe. Nicknamed the Iron Lady, Thatcher remained in power until 1990, making her the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.
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- Sri Lanka - Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960 -1965, 1970-1977) Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first female Prime Minister in 1960. She began her political career the previous year following the assassination of her husband who was prime minister at the time.
- India – Indira Gandhi (1966-1977, 1980-1984) Born into a political family, Indira Gandhi was the only child of India’s first elected prime minister. She attended a Swiss boarding school, and later, Oxford University, before launching her political career.
- Israel- Golda Meir (1969 – 1974) Golda Meir was born in Ukraine and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She immigrated to Israel in 1921, when the country was called British Palestine.
- Argentina - Isabel Martinez de Peron (1974-1976) Majoritas.com. Isabel Martinez de Peron was the world’s first female president and served as Argentina’s president from 1974 to 1976.
Apr 13, 2024 · Sirimavo Bandaranaike, stateswoman who, upon her party’s victory in the 1960 general election in Ceylon (later Sri Lanka), became the world’s first woman prime minister. She left office in 1965 but returned to serve two more terms (1970–77, 1994–2000) as prime minister.
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The first woman to be elected as prime minister of a country was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), when she led her party to victory in the July 1960 general election. [3] [2] The first woman to serve as president of a country was Isabel Perón of Argentina , who served as the country's vice president and succeeded to the ...
Feb 5, 2020 · Sirimavo Bandaranaike - Sri Lanka. Elected prime minister of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, in 1960, Bandaranaike was the first woman to be elected head of a government in the modern world....
