Female Heads of State
Wikis > Female Heads of State
This is a list of women who have been elected or appointed head of state of their respective countries. This list does not include monarchs. Names in italics refer to temporary presidencies. The list is organised chronologically (mandate start date).
| Name | Country | Name of post | Mandate start | Mandate end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khertek Anchimaa-Toka | the Russian Federation | Chairman of the Presidium of the Little Khural | 1940 | 1944-10-11 |
| Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa | Mongolia | Acting Chairman of the Presidium | 1953-09-23 | 1954-07-07 |
| Soong Ching-ling | China | Chairman of the People’s Republic of China | 1968-10-31 | 1972-04-24 |
| Isabel Martínez de Perón | Argentina | President | 1974-07-01 | 1976-03-24 |
| Lidia Gueiler Tejada | Bolivia | Interim President | 1979-11-16 | 1980-07-17 |
| Vigdís Finnbogadóttir | Iceland | President | 1980-08-01 | 1996-08-01 |
| Soong Ching-ling | China | President of the People’s Republic of China | 1981-05-16 | 1981-05-28 |
| Maria Lea Pedini-Angelini | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1981-04-01 | 1981-10-01 |
| Agatha Barbara | Malta | President | 1982-02-15 | 1987-02-15 |
| Gloriana Ranocchini (1st term) | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1984-04-01 | 1984-10-01 |
| Carmen Pereira | Guinea-Bissau | Acting President | 1984-05-14 | 1984-05-16 |
| Elisabeth Kopp | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council and Vice President | 1984-10-20 | 1989-01-12 |
| Corazon Aquino | Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the Philippines | President | 1986-02-25 | 1992-06-30 |
| Gloriana Ranocchini (2nd term) | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1989-10-01 | 1990-04-01 |
| Ertha Pascal-Trouillot | Haiti | Interim President | 1990-03-13 | 1991-02-07 |
| Sabine Bergmann-Pohl | Germany | President of the Volkskammer | 1990-04-05 | 1990-10-02 |
| Violeta Chamorro | Nicaragua | President | 1990-04-25 | 1997-01-10 |
| Mary Robinson | Ireland | President | 1990-12-03 | 1997-09-12 |
| Edda Ceccoli | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1991-10-01 | 1992-04-01 |
| Ruth Dreifuss | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council and President of the Swiss Confederation | 1993-04-01 | 2002-12-31 |
| Patricia Busignani | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1993-04-01 | 1993-10-01 |
| Sylvie Kinigi | Burundi | Acting President | 1993-10-27 | 1994-02-05 |
| Chandrika Kumaratunga | Sri Lanka | President | 1994-11-12 | 2005-11-19 |
| Ruth Perry | Liberia | Chairman of the Council of State | 1996-09-03 | 1997-08-02 |
| Rosalía Arteaga Serrano | Ecuador | Caretaker President | 1997-02-09 | 1997-02-11 |
| Mary McAleese | Ireland | President | 1997-11-11 | present |
| Janet Jagan | Guyana | President | 1997-12-19 | 1999-08-11 |
| Ruth Metzler | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council and Vice President | 1999-03-11 | 2003-12-10 |
| Rosa Zafferani | San Marino | Captain Regent | 1999-04-01 | 1999-10-01 |
| Vaira Vike-Freiberga | Latvia | President | 1999-07-08 | 2007-07-07 |
| Mireya Moscoso | Panama | President | 1999-09-01 | 2004-09-01 |
| Helen Clark | New Zealand | Prime Minister | 1999-11-27 | 2008-11-08 |
| Tarja Halonen | Finland | President | 2000-03-01 | present |
| Maria Domenica Michelotti | San Marino | Captain Regent | 2000-04-01 | 2000-10-01 |
| Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo | the Philippines | President | 2001-01-20 | 2010-06-30 |
| Mame Madior Boye | Senegal | Prime Minister | 2001-03-03 | 2002-11-4 |
| Megawati Setiawati Soekarnoputri | Indonesia | President | 2001-07-23 | 2004-10-20 |
| Nataša Mićić | Serbia and Montenegro | Acting President | 2002-12-30 | 2004-02-04 |
| Micheline Calmy-Rey | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council and President of the Swiss Confederation | 2003-01-01 | present |
| Beatriz Merino Lucero | Peru | Prime Minister | 2003-06-23 | 2003-12-12 |
| Valeria Ciavatta | San Marino | Captain Regent | 2003-10-01 | 2004-04-01 |
| Nino Burjanadze | Georgia | Acting President | 2003-11-23 | 2004-01-25 |
| Luísa Dias Diogo | Mozambique | Prime Minister | 2004 | 2010-01-16 |
| Yulia Tymoshenko (1st term) | Ukraine | Prime Minister | 2005-01-24 | 2005-09-08 |
| Fausta Morganti | San Marino | Captain Regent | 2005-04-01 | 2005-10-01 |
| Angela Merkel | Germany | Chancellor | 2005-11-22 | present |
| Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf | Liberia | President | 2006-01-16 | present |
| Michelle Bachelet | Chile | President | 2006-03-11 | 2010-03-11 |
| Portia Simpson-Miller | Jamaica | Prime Minister | 2006-03-30 | 2007-09-11 |
| Han Myeong-Sook | Gender Equality in South Korea | Prime Minister | 2006-04-20 | 2007-03-07 |
| Doris Leuthard | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council | 2006 | present |
| Dalia Itzi | Israel | Acting President | 2007-01-25 | 2007-07-15 |
| Pratibha Patil | India | President | 2007-07-25 | present |
| Nino Burjanadze | Georgia | Acting President | 2007-11-25 | 2008-01-20 |
| Cristina Fernández de Kirchner | Argentina | President | 2007-12-10 | present |
| Yulia Tymoshenko (2nd term) | Ukraine | Prime Minister | 2007-12-18 | present |
| Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf | Switzerland | Member of the Federal Council | 2008-01-01 | present |
| Johanna Sigurdardottir | Iceland | Prime Minister | 2009-02-01 | present |
| Dalia Grybauskaite | Lithuania | President | 2009-07-12 | |
| Laura Chinchilla Miranda | Costa Rica | President | 2010-02-07 | present |
| Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva | Kyrgyzstan | President | 2010-03-07 | present |
| Dilma Rousseff | Brazil | President | 2010-10-31 | present |
| Atifete Jahjaga] | Kosovo | President | 2011-04-06 | present} |
| Country | Number | Women's Political Empowerment | Heads of state since suffrage | Proportion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Marino | 9 | 1959 | 194 | 5% |
| Switzerland | 5 (2 Presidents) | 1971 | 27 | |
| Ireland | 2 | 1918 | 8 | 25% |
| Liberia | 2 | 1946 | 12 | 17% |
| Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the Philippines | 2 | 1937 | 13 | 15% |
| Argentina | 2 | 1947 | 18 | 11% |
| Bolivia | 1 | 1952 | 23 | 4% |
| Burundi | 1 | 1961 | 13 | 8% |
| Chile | 1 | 1931 | 14 | 7% |
| Ecuador | 1 | 1967 | 16 | 6% |
| Finland | 1 | 1906 | 11 | 9% |
| Georgia | 1 | 1919 | 4 | 25% |
| Germany | 1 | 1918 | 8 | 13% |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1 | 1977 | 9 | 11% |
| Guyana | 1 | 1953 | 8 | 13% |
| Haiti | 1 | 1950 | 21 | 5% |
| Iceland | 1 | 1915 | 5 | 20% |
| India | 1 | 1935 | 14 | 7% |
| Indonesia | 1 | 1945 | 6 | 17% |
| Israel | 2 | 1948 | 13 | 15% |
| Latvia | 1 | 1918 | 6 | 17% |
| Malta | 1 | 1947 | 9 | 11% |
| Mongolia | 1 | 1924 | 18 | 6% |
| Nicaragua | 1 | 1955 | 11 | 9% |
| Panama | 1 | 1941 | 27 | 4% |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1931 | 6 | 17% |