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Feb 2, 2021 · Just like a spark, the first female president eventually led to many other female world leaders. Learn about the women who made history around the globe.
The following is a list of women who have been elected or appointed head of state or government of their respective countries since the interwar period (1918–1939). The first list includes female presidents who are heads of state and may also be heads of government, as well as female heads of government who are not concurrently head of state, such as prime ministers.
NamePortraitCountryOffice4 April 20241 April 20242 October 202315 September 2023Jul 30, 2020 · She was the first woman to be democratically elected president in any nation on June 29, 1980. She won the simple plurality vote with 33.8% of the votes, ahead of Guðlaugur Thisorvaldsson (32.3%), Albert Guðmundsson (19.8%), and Pétur J. Thorsteinsson (14.1%). Vigdís Finnbogadóttir served for 16 years, until August 1, 1996, making her the ...
- Overview
- Khertek Anchimaa-Toka
- Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
- Isabel Perón
- Corazon Aquino
- Pratibha Patil
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Throughout history, women have often been pushed to the sidelines in politics and kept from power. As of 2016, only 44 of the 196 countries in the world had ever had a woman as head of state. From earning the right to vote in democracies to holding office and becoming national leaders, women have fought their way to the stage in a largely male-domi...
Khertek Anchimaa-Toka served as head of the parliament of the Tuvan People’s Republic, called the Little Khural, from 1940 until 1944, the first ever elected woman head of state in the world. At the age of 18 or 19, Anchimaa, along with 75 other Tuvan youths, was given the opportunity to study in Moscow, where she became one of only 11 of the origi...
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president of Iceland in 1980 and was quite the record breaker. Finnbogadóttir’s election made her Iceland’s first woman head of state, and the first woman in the world to be elected president of a country. With a term length of exactly 16 years, she also became the longest-serving woman head of state in any country...
Isabel Perón served as vice president of Argentina from 1973 to 1974 and then succeeded her husband, Juan Perón, in the position of president after his death. She served as president from 1974 until 1976. She was Argentina’s first woman head of state and the first woman head of state in South America, and she holds the honor of being the first woma...
Corazon Aquino served as president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992, the first woman to hold that office. She was also the first female president in Asia. She is known for her revolutionary role in reinstating democratic rule to the Philippines, leading the country away from the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos. She was born Maria Coraz...
Pratibha Patil served as president of India from 2007 to 2012, the first woman to become the country’s head of state. She was also the first woman to serve as governor of an Indian state when, in 2004, she was appointed to the position in the state of Rajasthan. Patil became a member of the political sphere in India in 1962, when she was elected to...
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, was the first woman elected head of state in the country and the first woman to become a head of state in Africa. Johnson Sirleaf is known for her role in bolstering Liberia’s economic, political, and social landscapes after years of civil war and for earning a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011...
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir ( Icelandic: [ˈvɪɣtis ˈfɪnpɔɣaˌtouʰtɪr̥] ⓘ; born 15 April 1930) is an Icelandic politician who served as the fourth president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. Vigdís is the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. [a] Having served as president of Iceland for 16 years, she is the ...
1 %. Of the world’s 195 nations, only about 70 have had a female head of government or state. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland became the first woman in the world to be elected head of state in a national election. Of the 10 most populous countries, the United States, Russia, China, Mexico, and Nigeria have never elected a woman leader.
Apr 11, 2024 · Title / Office: president (1980-1996), Iceland. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (born April 15, 1930, Reykjavík, Iceland) Icelandic teacher, cultural figure, and politician who served as president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. She was the first woman in the world to be elected head of state in a national election. Finnbogadóttir was born into a ...
