FEMALE WORLD LEADERS CURRENTLY IN POWER

The following is a list of female presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of state who are presently in power as of January 22, 2015.

All data comes care of Rulers.org, WorldStatesmen.org, or Regnal Chronologies.

CURRENT TOTAL: 22

We are currently living under a record-high number of simultanious female world leaders.

For several years now, the stable status quo has been around 20 female world leaders at any given time. For much of 2014, the number was 22 — a record high.

#	Country	Pic	Leader	In office since:	Notes
1	Germany		Chancellor Angela Merkel	Nov. 22, 2005 -	elected
2	Liberia		President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf	Jan. 16, 2006 -	elected
3	Argentina		President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner	Dec. 10, 2007 -	elected
4	Bangledesh		Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed	Jan. 6, 2009 -	elected
5	Lithuania		President Dalia Grybauskaite	Jul. 12, 2009 -	elected
6	Trinidad and Tobago		Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar	May 26, 2010 -	elected
7	Brazil		President Dilma Rousseff	Jan. 1, 2011 -	elected
8	Kosovo		President Atifete Jahjaga	Apr. 7, 2011 -	elected
9	Denmark		Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt	Oct. 3, 2011 -	elected
10	Jamaica		Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller	Jan. 5, 2012 -	elected
11	South Korea		President Park Geun-hye	Feb. 25, 2013 -	elected
12	Slovenia		Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek	Mar. 20, 2013 -	elected
13	Cyprus (North)		Prime Minister Sibel Siber	Jun. 13, 2013 -	appointed
14	Senegal		Prime Minister Aminata Touré	Sep. 3, 2013 -	appointed
15	Norway		Prime Minister Erna Solberg	Oct. 16, 2013 -	elected
16	Latvia		Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma	Jan. 22, 2014 -	elected
17	Central African Republic		President Catherine Samba-Panza	Jan. 23, 2014 -	appointed
18	Chile		President Michelle Bachelet	Mar. 11, 2014 -	elected
19	Malta		President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca	Apr. 7, 2014 -	elected
20	Poland		Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz	Apr. 7, 2014 -	elected
21	Switzerland		President Simonetta Sommaruga	Jan. 1, 2015 -	appointed
22	Croatia		President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic	Feb. 18, 2015 -	elected

"Elected" refers to women leaders who were elected in democratic elections, including both direct election and parliamentary election.
"Succeeded" refers to leaders who automatically assumed their position following the resignation or impeachment of a predecessor, and were thus not specifically elected to their post.
"Appointed" refers to leaders who were appointed to office by a ruling party or executive, and were thus not specifically elected to their post.
"Coup" refers to a leader who staged a coup or revolution to take office through force.

Sometimes leaders who were originally appointed to office managed to win election. In such cases both dates are noted.

NOTE: the "head of state" issue

In colloquial speech, a "head of state" is simply a world leader; be she a president, a prime minister, a ruling monarch, or in rare cases, some other office entirely. However, political scientists — and indeed, many national constitutions — define this term in a more narrow sense, with the "head of state" being the person who symbolically "embodies" the nation as its highest legal authority and highest-ranking ceremonial representative. A person who actually "runs" the government, in contrast, is called the "head of government." In many countries, the head of state and head of government is the same person, but in many other countries, the "head of state" is a symbolic president or monarch while the prime minister is the "head of government."

Identifying "heads of state" in this sense is a complicated matter I am not interested in here. Let it merely be noted that the women listed below consist simply of people who could be accurately described as "world leaders" of one sort or another, but some might regard it as technically incorrect to describe them as all "heads of state."

Queens or Vice-Regal Females in power

A few countries have reining female queens, or, if they are a member of the British Commonwealth, a female governor general representing Queen Elizabeth as head of state. As they are merely symbolic figureheads chosen to represent the actual head of state, they are not usually counted as "full" world leaders.

#	Country		Leader	In office since:
1	United Kingdom		Queen Elizabeth II	Feb. 6, 1952 -
2	Denmark		Queen Margethe II	Jan. 14, 1972 -
4	Saint Lucia		Governor-General Dame Pearlette Louisy	Sep. 17, 1997 -
5	Australia		Governor-General Quentin Bryce	Sep. 5, 2008 -

All countries with female presidents, past and present

A president is either the executive leader of a country, or a ceremonial figurehead chosen to "represent the nation" but not exercise any real political power.

Country		Leader	Term	Notes
Argentina (1st time)		President Isabel Peron	Jul. 1, 1974 - Mar. 24, 1976	succeeded, wife
Iceland		President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	Aug. 1, 1980 - Jul. 31, 1996	elected
Malta (1st time)		President Agatha Barbara	Feb. 15, 1982 - Feb. 15, 1987	elected
Philippines (1st time)		President Corazon Aquino	Feb. 25, 1986 - Jun. 30, 1992	elected, wife*
Nicaragua		President Violeta de Chamorro	Apr. 25, 1990 - Jan. 10, 1997	elected
Ireland (1st time)		President Mary Robinson	Dec, 3, 1990 - Sep. 12, 1997	elected
Sri Lanka		President Chandrika Kumaratunga	Nov. 12, 1994 - Nov. 19, 2005	elected, daughter
Ireland (2nd time)		President Mary McAleese	Nov. 11, 1997 - Nov. 11, 2011	elected
Guyana		President Janet Jagan	Dec. 19, 1997 - Aug. 11, 1999	elected, wife
Switzerland (1st time)		President Ruth Dreifuss	Jan. 1, 1999 - Dec. 31, 1999	appointed
Latvia		President Vaira Vike-Freiberga	Jul. 8, 1999 - Jul. 8, 2007	elected
Panama		President Mireya Moscoso	Sep. 1, 1999 - Sep. 1, 2004	elected, wife
Finland		President Tarja Halonen	Mar. 1, 2000 -	elected
Philippines (2nd time)		President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo	Jan. 20, 2001 - June 30, 2010	succeeded 2001, elected 2004, daughter
Indonesia		President Megawati Sukarnoputri	Jul. 23, 2001 - Oct. 20, 2004	succeeded, daughter
Serbia		President Natasa Micic	Dec. 30, 2002 - Jan. 27, 2004	appointed
Liberia		President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf	Jan. 16, 2006 -	elected
Chile		President Michelle Bachelet	Mar. 11, 2006 - Mar. 11, 2010	elected
Switzerland (2nd time)		President Micheline Calmy-Rey	Jan. 1, 2007 - Dec. 31, 2007	appointed
Bosnia & Herzegovina		President Borjana Kristo	Feb. 22, 2007 - Mar. 17, 2011	elected
India		President Pratibha Patil	Jul. 25, 2007 - Jul. 25, 2012	elected
Argentina (2nd time)		President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner	Dec. 10, 2007 -	elected, wife
Lithuania		President Dalia Grybauskaite	Jul. 12, 2009 -	elected
Switzerland (3rd time)		President Doris Leuthard	Jan. 1, 2010 - Dec. 31, 2011	appointed
Kyrgyzstan		President Rosa Otunbayeva	Apr. 7, 2010 - Dec. 1, 2011	coup
Costa Rica		President Laura Chinchilla	May 8, 2010 - May 8, 2014	elected
Brazil		President Dilma Rousseff	Jan. 1, 2011 -	elected
Switzerland (4th time)		President Micheline Calmy-Rey	Jan. 1, 2011 - Dec. 31, 2011	appointed
Switzerland (5th time)		President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf	Jan. 1, 2012 - Dec. 31, 2013	appointed
Malawi		President Joyce Banda	Apr. 7, 2012 - May 31, 2014	succeeded
South Korea		President Park Geun-hye	Feb. 25, 2013 -	elected, daughter
Central African Republic		President Catherine Samba-Panza	Jan. 23, 2014 -	appointed
Chile (2nd time)		President Michelle Bachelet	Mar. 11, 2014 -	elected
Malta (2nd time)		President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca	Apr. 7, 2014 -	elected
Switzerland (6th time)		President Simonetta Sommaruga	Jan. 1, 2015 -	appointed
Croatia		President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic	Feb. 18, 2015 -	elected

"Wife" indicates leaders whose husband was also president at one time.
"Daughter" indicates leaders whose father was also president at one time.

* though not a wife of a president, Ms. Aquino's political career was largely the result of her marriage to a very prominent senator, who was later assasinated. Her son, interestingly, would also later serve as president.

Less than a year in power (acting, interim leaders, etc)

The following female leaders all assumed office on some sort of interim basis and cannot be properly regarded as a "full" president. They often held the presidency while simultaniously holding some other office of government, usually speaker of parliament..

Country		Leader	Term
Mongolia		President Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa	Sep. 23, 1953 - Jul. 7, 1954
Bolivia		President Lydia Gueiler Tejada	Nov. 17, 1980 - Jul. 18, 1980
Guinea-Bissau		President Carmen Pereira	May 14, 1984 - May 16, 1984
Haiti		President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot	Mar. 13, 1990 - Jan. 7, 1991
East Germany		President Sabine Bergmann-Pohl	Apr. 5, 1990 - Oct. 2, 1990
Liberia		President Ruth Perry	Sep. 3, 1996 - Aug. 2, 1997
Ecuador		President Rosalía Arteaga Serrano	Feb. 9, 1997 - Feb. 11, 1997
Georgia (1st time)		President Nino Burjanadz	Nov. 23, 2003 - Jan. 25, 2004
Georgia (2nd time)		President Nino Burjanadz	Nov. 25, 2007 - Jan. 20, 2008
Israel		President Dalia Itzik	Jan. 25, 2007 - Jul. 15, 2007
South Africa		President Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri	Sep. 25, 2008
Gabon		President Rose Francine Rogombé	Jun. 10, 2009 - Oct. 16, 2009
Mauritius		President Monique Ohsan-Bellepeau	Mar. 31, 2012 - Jul. 21. 2012
Serbia		President Slavica Djukic Dejanovic	Apr. 4, 2012 - May 31, 2012

All countries with female prime ministers, past and present

A prime minister is, in most circumstances, the leader of the national parliament. How much power she exercises can vary greatly based on the country, and how strong the president (or in some cases, monarch) that sits above her is.

Country		Leader	Term	Notes
Sri Lanka (1st time)		Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Jul. 21, 1960 - Mar. 27, 1965	elected, wife
India (1st time)		Prime Minister Indira Gandhi	Jan. 19, 1966 - Mar. 24, 1977	elected, daughter
Israel		Prime Minister Golda Meir	Mar. 17, 1969 - Jun. 3, 1974	appointed 1969, elected 1971
Sri Lanka (2nd time)		Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike	May 29, 1970 - Jul. 23, 1977	"
Central African Republic		Prime Minister Elisabeth Domitien	Jan. 2, 1975 - Apr. 7, 1976	appointed*
United Kingdom		Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher	May 4, 1979 - Nov. 28, 1990	elected
India (2nd time)		Prime Minister Indira Gandhi	Jan. 14, 1980 - Oct. 31, 1984	"
Dominica		Prime Minister Dame Eugenia Charles	Jul. 21, 1980 - Jun. 14, 1995	elected
Norway (1st time)		Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland	Feb. 4, 1981 - Oct. 14, 1981	elected
Yugoslavia		Prime Minister Milka Planinc	May 16, 1982 - May 15, 1986	appointed*
Norway (2nd time)		Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland	May 9, 1986 - Oct. 16, 1989	"
Pakistan (1st time)		Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto	Dec. 2, 1988 - Aug. 6, 1990	elected, daughter
Norway (3rd time)		Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland	Nov. 3, 1990 - Oct. 25, 1996	"
Bangledesh (1st time)		Prime Minister Khaleda Zia	Mar. 20, 1991 - Mar. 30, 1996	elected, daughter
Poland		Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka	Jul. 8, 1992 - Oct. 26, 1993	appointed
Turkey		Prime Minister Tansu Çiller	Jun. 25, 1992 - Mar. 6, 1996	appointed
Pakistan (2nd time)		Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto	Oct. 19, 1993 - Nov. 5, 1996	"
Sri Lanka (3rd time)		Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Nov. 14, 1994 - Aug. 10, 2000	"
New Zealand (1st time)		Prime Minister Jenny Shippley	Dec. 8, 1997 - Dec. 10, 1999	appointed
New Zealand (2nd time)		Prime Minister Helen Clark	Dec. 10, 1999 - Nov. 19, 2008	elected
Senegal (1st time)		Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye	Mar. 2, 2001 - Nov. 4, 2002	appointed
Bangledesh (2nd time)		Prime Minister Khaleda Zia	Oct. 10, 2001 - Oct. 29. 2006	"
São Tomé and Príncipe		Prime Minister Maria das Neves	Oct. 7, 2002 - Sep. 18, 2004	appointed
Mozambique		Prime Minister Luísa Diogo	Feb. 17, 2004 - Jan. 16, 2010	appointed 2004, elected 2009
Ukraine (1st time)		Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko	Jan. 24, 2005 - Sep. 8, 2005	elected
Germany		Chancellor Angela Merkel	Nov. 22, 2005 -	elected
Jamaica		Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller	Mar. 30, 2006 - Sep. 11, 2007	appointed
South Korea		Prime Minister Han Myung Sook	Ap. 19, 2006 - Mar. 7, 2007	appointed
Ukraine (2nd time)		Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko	Dec. 18, 2007 - Mar. 11, 2010	"
Haiti (2nd time)		Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis	Sep. 5, 2008 - Nov. 11, 2009	appointed
Bangledesh		Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed	Jan. 6, 2009 -	elected
Iceland		Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir	Feb. 1, 2009 - May 23, 2013	appointed 2009, elected 2009
Croatia		Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor	Jul. 6, 2009 - Dec. 2011	appointed
Trinidad and Tobago		Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar	May 26, 2010 -	elected
Australia		Prime Minister Julia Gillard	Jun. 24, 2010 - Jun. 27, 2013	appointed 2010, elected 2010
Finland		Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi	Jun. 22, 2010 - Jun. 22, 2011	appointed
Slovakia		Prime Minister Iveta Radicová	Jul. 8, 2010 - Apr. 4, 2012	elected
Thailand		Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra	Aug. 8, 2011 - May 7, 2014	elected
Denmark		Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt	Oct. 3, 2011 -	elected
Jamaica (2nd time)		Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller	Jan. 5, 2012 -	elected
Slovenia		Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek	Mar. 20, 2013 - Sep. 18, 2014	elected
Norway (3rd time)		Prime Minister Erna Solberg	Oct. 16, 2013 -	elected
Latvia		Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma	Jan. 22, 2014 -	elected

Less than a year in power (acting, interim leaders, etc)

Country		Leader	Term
Portugal		Prime Minister Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo	Aug. 1, 1979 - Jan. 3, 1980
Lithuania (1st time)		Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskien	Mar. 17, 1990 - Jan. 10, 1991
France		Prime Minister Edith Cresson	May 15, 1991 - Apr. 2, 1992
Burundi		Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi	Jul. 10, 1993 - Feb. 7, 1994
Canada		Prime Minister Kim Campbell	Jun. 25, 1993 - Nov. 4, 1993
Rwanda		Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana	Jul. 18, 1993 - Apr. 7, 1994
Bulgaria		Prime Minister Reneta Indzhova	Oct. 17, 1994 - Jan. 25, 1995
Sri Lanka		Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga	Aug. 19, 1994 - Nov. 12, 1994
Haiti		Prime Minister Claudette Werleigh	Nov. 7, 1995 - Mar. 6, 1996
Guyana		Prime Minister Janet Jagan	Mar. 17, 1997 - Dec. 22, 1997
Lithuania (2nd time)		Prime Minister Irena Degutiene	May 4, 1999 - May 18, 1999
Lithuania (3rd time)		Prime Minister Irena Degutiene	Oct. 27, 1999 - Nov. 3, 1999
Mongolia		Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Tuyaa	Jul. 22, 1999 - Jul. 30, 1999
South Korea		Prime Minister Chang Sang	Jul. 11, 2002 - Jul. 31, 2002
Finland		Prime Minister Anneli Jäätteenmäki	Apr. 17, 2003 - Jun. 24, 2003
Peru (1st time)		Prime Minister Beatriz Merino	June 28, 2003 - Dec. 15, 2003
Macedonia (1st time)		Prime Minister Radmila Sekerinska	May 12, 2004 - Jun. 2, 2004
Macedonia (2nd time)		Prime Minister Radmila Sekerinska	Nov. 18, 2004 - Dec. 17, 2004
São Tomé and Príncipe		Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silveira	Jun. 8, 2005 - Apr. 21, 2006
Moldova		Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanîi	Mar. 31, 2008 - Sep. 14, 2009
Madagascar		Prime Minister Cécile Manorohanta	Dec. 18, 2009 - Dec. 20, 2009
Peru (2nd time)		Prime Minister Rosario Fernández	Mar. 19, 2011 - Jul. 28, 2011
Mali		Prime Minister Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé	Apr. 3, 2011 - March 22, 2012
Cyprus (North)		Prime Minister Sibel Siber	Jun. 13, 2013 - Sep. 2, 2013
Senegal (2nd time)		Prime Minister Aminata Touré	Sep. 3, 2013 - Jul. 14, 2014

All countries with female governor-generals

In a Commonwealth country, a governor general is a politician appointed by the prime minister to serve as "acting" head of state on behalf of the British monarch, the legal chief of state.

Canada (1st time)		Governor-General Jeanne Sauvé	May 14, 1984 - Jan. 29, 1990
Barbados		Governor-General Dame Nita Barrow	Jun. 6, 1990 - Dec. 19, 1995
New Zealand (1st time)		Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard	Nov. 20, 1990 - Mar. 21, 1996
Saint Lucia		Governor-General Dame Pearlette Louisy	Sep. 17, 1997 -
Canada (2nd time)		Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson	Oct. 7, 1999 - Sep. 27, 2005
New Zealand (2nd time)		Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright	Apr. 4, 2001 - Aug. 23, 2006
Bahamas		Governor-General Dame Ivy Dumont	Nov. 13, 2001 - Nov. 25, 2005
Canada (3rd time)		Governor-General Michaelle Jean	Sep. 27, 2005 - Oct. 1, 2010
Antigua and Barbuda		Governor-General Dame Louise Lake-Tack	Jul. 17, 2007 - Aug. 13, 2004
Australia		Governor-General Quentin Bryce	Sep. 5, 2008 - Mar. 28, 2014

Historic female monarchs

Historically speaking, the principle of heritary monarchism has tended to supercede the principle of gender discrimantion, meaning even very sexually regressive socieites have allowed female monarchs to rule them from time to time, if that's how the monarchical birth lottery goes. Here are all the historic female monarchs of countries that still exist in some form today.

Denmark (1st time)		Lady Margrethe I	Aug. 10, 1387 - Jan. 23, 1396
Portugal (1st time)		Queen Beatrix	Oct. 22, 1383 - Apr. 6, 1385
Spain (1st time)		Queen Isabella I of Castile	Dec. 11, 1474 - Nov. 26, 1504
Spain (2nd time)		Queen Juana the Mad	Nov. 26, 1504 - Apr. 12, 1555
England (1st time)		Lady Jane Grey	Jul. 6, 1553 - Jul. 19, 1553
England (2nd time)		"Bloody" Mary	Jul. 19, 1553 - Nov. 17, 1558
England (3rd time)		Queen Elizabeth I	Nov. 17, 1558 - Mar. 24, 1603
Sweden (1st time)		Queen Christina	Nov. 16, 1632 - Jun. 16, 1654
England (4th time)		Queen Mary II	Feb. 23, 1689 - Jan. 7, 1695
England (4th time)		Queen Anne	Mar. 19, 1702 - Aug. 12, 1714
Sweden (2nd time)		Ulrica Eleonora	Feb. 2, 1719 - Apr. 4, 1720
Russia (2nd time)		Tsar Catherine I	Feb. 8 1725 - May 17, 1727
Russia (3rd time)		Tsar Anna Ivovna	Feb. 13, 1730 - Oct. 28, 1740
Russia (4th time)		Tsar Elizabeth Petrovna	Dec. 6, 1741 - Jan. 5, 1762
Russia (5th time)		Tsar Catherine II the Great	Jul. 8, 1762 - Nov. 17, 1796
Portugal and Brazil (2nd time)		Queen Maria	Feb. 24, 1777 - Mar. 20, 1816
Portgual (3rd time)		Queen Maria II the Great	Mar. 3, 1828 - Nov. 15, 1853
England (5th time)		Queen Empress Victoria the Good	Jun. 20, 1837 - Jan. 22, 1901
China		Empress Dowager Cixi	Feb. 25, 1875 - Mar. 4, 1889
Netherlands (1st time)		Queen Regent Emma	Dec. 8, 1890 - Aug. 31, 1898
Netherlands (2nd time)		Queen Wilhelmina	Aug. 31, 1898 - Sep. 4, 1948
Luxembourg (1st time)		Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde	Feb. 25, 1912 - Jan. 15, 1919
Luxembourg (2nd time)		Grand Duchess Charlotte	Jan. 15, 1919 - Nov. 12, 1964
Netherlands (3rd time)		Queen Juliana	Sep. 4, 1948 - Apr. 30, 1980
Netherlands (4th time)		Queen Beatrix	Apr. 30, 1980 - Apr. 30, 2013

Special cases

Switzerland has one of the world's most unusual political systems, with the nation's highest political authority vested in a "federal council" comprised of seven members of parliament. The chair of the council serves as president of Switzerland, but the position rotates every year. Since the federal council always contains at least one women, Switzerland has a higher than one-in-seven chance of having a female president in any given year, which explains Switzerland's unusually high tally in this regard.

The tiny European nation of San Marino elects two members of parliament to serve as "campaigns regent" for a six-month term. San Marino law (the nation has no constitution) declares that these captains serve "jointly" as head of state. Maria Lea Pedini Angelini served as San Marino's first female captain regent in 1981; since then there have been 15 others. I have elected not to include a full list of San Marino's post-1981 female captains partially ensure this most unusual of offices in this most minuscule of nations does not clutter the lists above.

Countries that have had more than one female leader (includes acting, interim leaders etc)

*Switzerland has seen six female presidential terms, though two of those were held by the same woman. Guyana's tally is also debatable, since their female prime minister and female president were the same person.

Historic firsts

History's most important female world leaders

	Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel (1969-1974) b. 1898 - d. 1978	Born in Russia but raised in the United States, Golda Meir was one of many young Jews who emigrated to the British colony of Palestine in the early 20th century. A leading Zionist and labor activist, she was one of the signatories of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. In 1949 she was elected as a Labor Party delegate to the first Israeli parliament, and served in a number of cabinet positions under prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol, before succeeding to the office of prime minister herself, following Eshkol's 1969 death. As prime minister, Meir's term was dominated by the so-called "Yom Kippur War" of 1973, in which Israel was unexpectedly invaded by Egypt and Syria. Though the war severely tested Meir's leadership, Israel was ultimately victorious, once again demonstrating the country's military strength in the face of hostile neighbors.
	Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India (1966-1977, 1980-1984) b. 1917 - d. 1984	Though not related to the famed Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, Indira was the daughter of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and was elected to lead his political party, the Indian National Congress in 1960, following his death. After serving in the cabinet of Prime Minister Bahadur Shastri, she in turn succeeded to the office of prime minister following his death in 1966. Gandhi's two terms were tumultuous and eventful, and saw episodes such as a 1971 war with Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir, the development of an Indian nuclear weapons program, and a so-called "Green Revolution" in farming that transformed the country's agriculture. Her tenure was not a positive time for civil liberties, however, and for much of her rule parliamentary democracy was all but suspended. She was assassinated in 1984.
	Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom (1979-1990) b. 1925 - d. 2013	The daughter of a shopkeeper, Margaret Thatcher was elected to the British Parliament in 1959, and served in the cabinet of Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath from 1970 to 1974. In 1975 she was elected leader of the Conservatives, and was elected Britain's first female prime minister in 1979. Re-elected twice before resigning in 1990, she remains one of the longest-serving female world leaders of all time. Fiercely ideological, Thatcher was best known for steering her political party and country sharply to the right through an aggressive agenda of tax cuts, privatizations, union-busting, and cuts to government spending. In 1982 she led her country in a brief, successful war against Argentina to liberate Britain's Falkland Islands from foreign invasion.
	President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines (1986-1992) b. 1933 - d. 2009	Corazon Aquino rose to prominence as the wife of Benigno Aquino, a leading opposition politician under the long dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Following her husband's assassination in 1983, she assumed the leadership of the anti-Marcos opposition, eventually emerging as the leading opposition candidate in the 1986 presidential election, which she won, despite massive fraud from the Marcos campaign. Her inspirational story earned her the title of TIME magazine's 1986 "Person of the Year." As president, Aquino led a highly reformist government that introduced a new, democratic constitution and removed the various political restrictions that had contributed to the repression of the Marcos years.
	Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996) b. 1953 - d. 2007	Educated in England, Benazir Bhutto assumed the leadership of the Pakistan People's Party in 1979, following the execution of her father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. A leading opposition figure under the dictatorship of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, she was elected prime minister of a coalition government in 1988 after his death. Bhutto's two terms in office helped democratize Pakistan after years of dictatorship, but her government was also accused of widespread corruption. After losing office a second time in 1996, she spent much of her later life once again in opposition, this time to the new dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. After a period of exile, she was assassinated in 2007, shortly after returning to the country. Her husband was then elected president in her place.
	Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany (2005- ) b. 1954	Merkel grew up in East Germany where she worked as a chemist. She became active in politics following the reunification of east and west Germany, and in 1991 she was elected to the unified parliament under the conservative Christian Democratic Party and served as a cabinet minister under the government of Helmut Kohl. In 2000, she became head of the party and in 2005 was elected chancellor (prime minister). Following the crippling worldwide economic recession of 2008, Merkel has emerged as one of the world's most powerful leaders, due to her tight command of the Europe Union's largest economy. Though her government has been financially generous towards some of Europe's more troubled nations, she has also pressed hard for austerity reforms to play a prominent role in any plan for long-term economic recovery, both at home and abroad.
	President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (2006 - ) b. 1938	An economist by profession, Sirleaf was educated in the United States before returning to Liberia to serve in the government of President William Tolbert, until his overthrow in 1980. Living mostly in exile, for the next 25 years she would make numerous attempts at a political comeback, but routinely faced jail terms and charges of treason for her activities. In 2005 she assumed the leadership of the united opposition to new dictator Charles Taylor and in 2006 was elected president following his exile. Sirleaf's presidency has focused mostly on rebuilding Liberia's democratic institutions and fostering national reconciliation after decades of civil war and oppression, as well as helping modernize the country's economy. In 2011 she became the first-ever female world leader to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Has there ever been a female dictator?

Most observers would probably say no, though it does depend somewhat on how you define "dictator." There has certainly never been a female equivalent of someone like Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong Il, which is to say, an all-powerful tyrant who led a totalitarian regime of extreme murder and oppression. There have been, however, a few women who served as prime ministers in undemocratic regimes, came to power through undemocratic means, or ran governments that can be fairly described as "authoritarian."

Élisabeth Domitién (1925-2005) served as prime minister of the Central African Republic for little over a year under the government of President Jean-Bédel Bokassa. Bokassa — who would later declare himself emperor — was a mad and eccentric tyrant often considered one of Africa's worst dictators, and is associated with many horrific human rights abuses. Prime Minister Domitién was certainly aware of these, but the prime minister's office was extraordinarily weak under Bokassa, so it is probably unfair to consider her too culpable in his crimes — particularly given her short tenure.

Milka Planinc (1924-2010) served as prime minister of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986, at a time when it was still a Communist republic. Following the death of longtime dictator Joseph Broz Tito in 1980, the presidency of Yugoslavia reverted back to a collective, with a chairmanship that rotated every year. This increased the power of the prime ministership, and Planinc was unquestionably the most powerful politician in the country during this time. Her regime was moderate, but committed to the Communist system. It would be fair to consider her a dictator, if perhaps not a particularly flashy one.

Biljana Plavsi (b. 1930) became president of the Serb Republic within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996. Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared itself independent from Yugoslavia in 1992, and the Serb Republic was declared around the same time. The Republic's first president was the infamous Radovan Karadzic, who waged a vicious war of "ethnic cleansing" against non-Serbs in the region. When he was forced to resign amid western pressure in 1996, Vice President Plavsi took over, and largely continued her predecessors' brutal policies. Both were eventually charged with crimes against humanity. Though Plavsi is perhaps the most infamous female politician of modern times, her regime was at least nominally democratic. The Bosnian "Serb Republic" (not to be confused with the Republic of Serbia) is also not a sovereign country, though it considered itself independent during the Yugoslav civil war.

Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (b. 1946) in her capacity as head of the East German parliament, served the final, acting head of state of Communist East Germany for a few months in 1990 at a time when the country was in the process of being incorporated into West Germany. Though she was nominally in charge of a Communist regime, her caretaker rule was too short and transient to be seriously considered here.

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