14 Female Political Leaders in Power You Should Know About

The women who rule the world: from the world's youngest serving state leader to the first openly gay prime minister...

By Ekta Kashyap
23 January, 2020
14 Female Political Leaders in Power You Should Know About

1) Katerina Sakellaropoulou: President-elect of Greece, Katerina is a Greek judge and the first female president of the Greek Council of State, serving since October 2018. She is expected to become officially the 8th and first female President of Greece on 13 March 2020.

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2) Sheikh Hasina Wazed: Born 28 September 1947, she is the 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having held the office since January 2009. She had previously served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001 and is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh.

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3) Sanna Mirella Marin: Sanna has been serving as the Prime Minister of Finland since 10 December 2019. The 1985 born became both the world's youngest serving state leader at the time and Finland's youngest-ever prime minister.        

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4) Bidhya Devi Bhandari: The Nepalese politician is the current President of Nepal and is the first woman to hold the office.

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5) Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern: Born 26 July 1980, she is serving as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand since 26 October 2017.

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6) Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović: She has been the 4th and current President of Croatia since 2015. At 46 years of age, Kolinda also became the youngest person to assume the presidency.

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7) Ana Brnabić: She has been the Prime Minister of Serbia since 29 June 2017. Ana is the first woman, first openly gay and first person with Croat ethnic descent to hold the office.

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8) Sahle-Work Zewde: The career diplomat is the current President of Ethiopia and the first woman to hold the office. Sahle-Work was previously Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union at the level of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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9) Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila: She is the fourth and the current Prime Minister of Namibia, in office since 21 March 2015. The first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Namibia, Kuugongelwa is a member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).

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10) Zuzana Čaputová: An environmental activist, she has been the President of Slovakia since 15 June 2019. Čaputová is the first woman to hold the presidency, as well as the youngest president in the history of Slovakia, elected at the age of 45.

She first became known by prevailing in a decade-long struggle against the situating of a toxic landfill in her hometown of Pezinok. For this, Čaputová was awarded the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize.

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11) Erna Solberg: Serving as the Prime Minister of Norway since 2013, Solberg has been given the nickname "Iron Erna", inspired by Margaret Thatcher's "Iron Lady”.

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12) Angela Dorothea Merkel: Widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, and a "leader of the free world", Merkel is the chancellor of Germany since 2005.

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13) Tsai Ing-wen: A Taiwanese politician and professor, Tsai is the president of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, since 20 May 2016. The first woman to be elected to the office, she is the seventh president of the Republic of China under the 1947 Constitution.

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14) Aung San Suu Kyi: A Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1991), she is the first and incumbent State Counsellor (a position akin to a prime minister leader) of Myanmar.  

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