List Of Female Presidents
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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 In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
(1918–1939). The first list includes female presidents who are heads of state and may also be
heads of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
, as well as female heads of government who are not concurrently head of state, such as prime ministers. The list does not include female monarchs who are heads of state (but not of government). Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, of the mostly unrecognized and now defunct Tuvan People's Republic, is regarded as "first ever elected woman head of state in the world". She became the chair of the country's presidium in 1940. The first woman to be democratically elected as prime minister of a country was
Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සිරිමා රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே; 17 April 191 ...
of Ceylon (present-day
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
), when she led her party to victory at the 1960 general election. The first woman to serve as president of a country was
Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...
of Argentina, who as vice-president succeeded to the presidency in 1974 after the death of her husband. The first woman elected president of a country was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland, who won the 1980 presidential election as well as three later elections, to become the longest-serving non-hereditary female head of state in history (16 years and 0 days in office). The first democratically elected female Prime Minister of a Muslim majority country was
Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
of Pakistan who was elected as Prime Minister in 1988 and later in 1993, making her the first democratically elected leader of any Muslim nation. Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was also the first and one of the only two leaders of the world who gave birth to a child while serving in office, the other one being Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand. The longest serving female non-royal head of government and longest serving female leader of a country is Sheikh Hasina. She is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh, having served for a combined total of over 19 years. As of , she is the world's longest serving elected female head of government. Prime ministers of Namibia, Peru, and Uganda are included in the list of elected or appointed female deputy heads of government as they are neither heads of government, nor deputy heads of state due to the existence of the office of vice president in these countries; whereas prime ministers of South Korea are included in the lists of elected or appointed female deputy heads of state and government.


Elected or appointed female chief executives

This list includes women who were appointed by a governing committee or parliament where heads of state or government are not directly elected by citizens. The list does not include women chosen by a hereditary monarch.


Elected or appointed acting female chief executives

This list includes women elected or appointed in an
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
capacity, wherein they assumed a vacated office on a temporary basis.


Female members of collective head-of-state bodies


Female viceregal representatives

Below are women who have been appointed representatives of heads of state, such as female governors-general and French representatives of Andorra. As governors-general are appointed representatives of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms (currently Charles III) and the French Representatives of Andorra are appointed representatives of the French Co-Prince of Andorra (currently
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
), they act as heads of state and carry out on a regular basis the functions and duties associated with such a role in the Commonwealth realms (excluding the United Kingdom, which has no governor-general, as the monarch of the Commonwealth realms primarily resides there) and Andorra, respectively.


Acting female viceregal representatives

This list includes women appointed as viceregal representatives in an
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
capacity, wherein they assumed a vacated office on a temporary basis.


See also

* List of elected or appointed female deputy heads of government *
List of elected or appointed female deputy heads of state This is a list of women who have been elected or appointed deputy head of state of their respective countries. This list does not include female deputy heads of government who are not concurrently deputy head of state, such as deputy prime m ...
* Female president of the United States in popular culture *
Council of Women World Leaders The Council of Women World Leaders, created in 1996, is a network of 83 current and former presidents and prime ministers. It is the only organization in the world dedicated to women heads of state and government. The council's Ministerial Initia ...
* List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office * Women in government *
List of the first women heads of government and state in Muslim-majority countries A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of female Muslim heads of government and state This is a list of female Muslim heads of government and heads of state. Some countries do not have a Muslim majority. The list is chronological Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logi ...
* Muslim women political leaders * List of female hereditary rulers


Notes


References


External links


List of Current Women Heads of State
an

(Zárate's Political Collections)
Council of Women World Leaders
{{Women in government Female heads of state Elected and appointed heads of state and government Lists of women politicians sv:Lista över kvinnliga regeringschefer