Which Countries Have Had Women Leaders?

In 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to extend the right to vote to women. Dozens more would do so in the years following World War I, and as a wave of countries gained independence after World War II, equal voting rights for men and women were often guaranteed in their constitutions. It would not be until July 21, 1960, however, that Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) would be sworn in as the world’s first female prime minister. Two decades later Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland would become the first woman to be elected president. Since then women have made enormous political strides; by 2025, more than a third of the countries of the world had been led by a woman.