Women in Leadership

Los Angeles Times - The tiny club of female presidents in Latin America will grow by one with the election in Costa Rica of Laura Chinchilla. She won the presidency in a landslide victory Sunday and takes office May 8, 2010. The socially conservative, pro-business former vice president hails from the party of incumbent President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work in the 1980s to end Central America's wars. Chinchilla's victory was widely seen as a vote for continuity in a politically stable country that enjoys one of the region's highest standards of living.

President Laura Chinchilla Miranda, Costa Rica (Source: Tracy Wilkinson in Mexico City)It's the first time Costa Rica has chosen a woman to lead the nation. Chile's Michelle Bachelet and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner are the other female chief executives in Latin America. In the past, Panama and Nicaragua also had female presidents. Laura Chinchilla Miranda (born March 28, 1959) is a Costa Rican politician and first female President-elect of Costa Rica. She was one of Óscar Arias's two Vice-Presidents and his administration's Minister of Justice.

"The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals . . . an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced." (Source: Two Wings of a Bird: The Equality of Women and Men, A statement by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States - published in 1997)

2010 - President Laura Chinchilla Miranda, Costa Rica

2010 - President of the Confederation Doris Leuthard, Switzerland

2009 - President Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania

Rose Francine Rogombé (née Etomba) (born 20 September 1942) was the first female head of state of Gabon. After her interim presidency, she returned to her post as President of the Senate.2009 - Interim President Rose Francine Rogombé, Gabon
Rose Francine Rogombé (née Etomba) (born 20 September 1942 is a Gabonese politician who was Acting President of Gabon from June 2009 to October 2009, following the death of long-time President Omar Bongo. She is a lawyer by profession and a member of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). Rogombé was the first female head of state of Gabon. After her interim presidency, she returned to her post as President of the Senate.

2009 - Capitano Reggente Assunta Meloni, San Marino

2008 - President Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, South Africa

2007 - President Cristina Fernández  de Kirchner, Argentina

2007 - President  Pratibha Patil, India

2007 - Interim President  President Dalia Itzik, Israel

2007 - President of the Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria2006 - President Michelle Bachelet Jeria, Chile
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (born September 29, 1951) is a center-left politician and was President of Chile—the first woman to hold this position in the country's history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right billionaire businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera, with 53.5% of the vote.

2006 - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia

2005 - Capitano Reggente Fausta Simona Morganti, San Marino

2004 - Joint Head of State Barbara Prammer, Austria

2003 - President Nino Burjanadze, Georgia

2003 - Capitano Reggente Valeria Ciavatta, San Marino

2002 - President Natasa Micic, Serbia

2001 - President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia

2001 - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, The Philippines

2000 - Capitano Reggente Maria Domenica Michelotti, San Marino

Tarja Kaarina Halonen is the 11th and current President of Finland.2000 - President Tarja Halonen, Finland
Tarja Kaarina Halonen (Finnish pronunciation: [tɑrjɑ kɑːrinɑ hɑlonen]; born 24 December 1943) is the 11th and current President of Finland. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency. In addition to her political career she had a long and extensive career in trade unions and different non-governmental organizations.

1999 - President Mireya Moscoso Rodrígez, Panama

1999 - President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia

1999 - Captain Regent Rosa Zafferani, San Marino

1999 - President of the Confederation Ruth Dreifuss, Switzerland

1997 - President Janet Jagan, Guyana

President Mary McAleese, Ireland1997 - President Mary McAleese, Ireland
Mary Patricia McAleese (Irish: Máire Pádraigín Bean Mhic Ghiolla Íosa;[born 27 June 1951) is the eighth and current President of Ireland. Prior to becoming president she was a barrister, journalist and academic. McAleese is Ireland's second female president and the world's first woman to succeed another woman as an elected head of state. She was first elected president in 1997 and won a second term, without a contest, in 2004. Her birth in Belfast means she is the first President to have come from Northern Ireland. She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

1997 - President Rosalia Arteaga Serrano de Fernández de Córdova, Ecuador

1996 - Chairman of the Council of State Ruth Sando Perry, Liberia
Ruth Sando Perry, the first woman head of state ever appointed to an African nation.Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry (born July 16, 1939) was Chairwoman of the Council of State of Liberia from 3 September 1996 until 2 August 1997, following the First Liberian Civil War.The Council of State consisted of a civilian chair, as well as members: Charles Taylor, United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-K leader Alhaji Kromah, Liberia Peace Council leader George Boley, and two other civilians. She is known for being the first female president of Liberia. Liberia also has the distinction of electing Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the first female African leader, making it only the second country on the continent with two female rulers in its history after São Tomé and Príncipe.

1994 - President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka

1993 - Head of State Sylvie Kinigi, Burundi

1993 - Captain Regent Patrizia Busignani, San Marino

1991 - Captain Regent Edda Ceccoli, San Marino

1990 - President Mary Robinson, Ireland

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro became president of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990.1990 - President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Nicaragua
Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (born October 18, 1929) is a Nicaraguan political leader, former president and publisher. She became president of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990, when she unseated Daniel Ortega.[1] She was supported by many, including a fourteen-party anti-Sandinista alliance known as the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositora, UNO), an alliance that ranged from conservatives and liberals to communists. She left office on January 10, 1997.

1990 - Head of State Dr. Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, East-Germany

1990 - President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, Haiti

1982 - President Agatha Barbara, Malta

1980 - President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Iceland

1979 - Interim Executive President Lydia Gueiler Tejada, Bolivia

1974 - President Maria Estella Martínez de Perón, Argentina

Head of State Song Qingling, China1968 - Head of State Song Qingling, China
She was the first non-royal woman to officially become head of state of China, acting as Co-Chairman of the Republic from 1968 until 1972. She again became head of state in 1981, briefly before her death, as President of China. Soong is sometimes regarded as Asia's first female non-monarchial head of state, although her title of Honorary President of the People's Republic of China was purely ceremonial.

1953 - Head of State Sühbaataryn Yanjmaa, Mongolia

1940 - Head of State Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, People's Republic of Tannu Tuva

1917 - Prime Minister Evheniya Bohdanivna Bosch, Ukraine

1960 - Prime Minister Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka

1966 - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India

1969 - Prime Minister Golda Meïr, Israel
Golda Meir‎, known as Golda Meyerson from 1917–56 was the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel.Golda Meir‎, born Golda Mabovitch, 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978 was the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on 17 March 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel's first and the world's third female to hold such an office, she was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Former prime minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir "the best man in the government."

1975 - Prime Minister Élisabeth Domitién, Central African Republic

1979 - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, United Kingdom of Great Britain

1979 - Prime Minister Dr. Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva Pintasilgo, Portugal

1980 - Prime Minister Dame M. Eugenia Charles, Dominica

Gro Harlem Brundtland is a former Prime Minister of Norway.1981 - Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway
Gro Harlem Brundtland (born, 20 April, 1939) is a Norwegian politician, diplomat, and physician, and an international leader in sustainable development and public health. She is a former Prime Minister of Norway, and has served as the Director General of the World Health Organization. She now serves as a Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 2008 she became the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture.

1982 - Prime Minister Milka Planinc, Yugoslavia

1988 - Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan

1990 - Prime Minister Kasimiera Prunskiene, Lithuania

1991 - Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh

1996 - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Bangladesh

Janet Rosenberg Jagan was President of Guyana from December 19, 1997 to August 11, 1999.1997 - Prime Minister Janet Jagan, Guyana
Janet Rosenberg Jagan (October 20, 1920 – March 28, 2009) was an American-born socialist politician who was President of Guyana from December 19, 1997 to August 11, 1999. She previously served as Prime Minister of Guyana from March 17, 1997 to December 19, 1997.

1998 - Prime Minister Anne Enger Lahnstein, Norway

2002 - Prime Minister Chang Sang, South Korea

2005 - Prime Minister Cynthia A. Pratt, The Bahamas

2005 - Prime Minister Angela Merkel, Germany

2006 - Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica

2006 - Prime Minister Han Myung-sook, South Korea