Female head of government

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. 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 of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), 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 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 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 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), 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 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
*Female president of the United States in popular culture
* Council of Women World Leaders
* 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
*List of female Muslim heads of government and state
*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