Leading Women Profiles

Read the profiles of these inspiring women who lead countries around the world.

BANGLADESH

Khaleda Zia was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, the first woman in the country’s history to hold that position, and then again from 2001 to 2006. She is the widow of assassinated president Ziaur Rahman, and leads his old party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. After 35 years of independence of Bangladesh she has ruled the country for about 10 years (longest period). She has been elected to five separate parliamentary constituencies in the general elections of 1991, 1996, and 2001, a feat unachieved by any other politician in Bangladeshi history. In 2006, Forbes ranked Khaleda Zia #33 in 100 Most Powerful Women in the world

Bangladesh enjoys the distinction of having two female politicians leading national politics.

CHILE

Michelle Bachelet is a center-left politician and the current 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. A moderate Socialist, she campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile’s free market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the country’s gap between rich and poor, one of the largest in the world. She was inaugurated on March 11, 2006. Bachelet—a surgeon, pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy—served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos. She is a separated mother of three and a self-described agnostic, which sets her apart in a predominantly conservative and Catholic country. A polyglot, she speaks Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and French. In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked her as 17th in the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

GERMANY

Angela Dorothea Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union CDU since April 9, 2000. Vital topics of her term in office so far are the Health care reform and the problems concerning the Future energy development. Merkel, who studied physics and holds a doctorate in physical chemistry, is simultaneously the first female Chancellor of Germany, the first citizen of the former German Democratic Republic to assume the chancellery of reunited Germany, and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state in 1871. She is also, as of 2007, the youngest person to be German chancellor since the Second World War. Merkel, considered by Forbes Magazine to be one of the most powerful woman in the world, is only the third woman to serve on the G8 (after Margaret Thatcher of the UK and Kim Campbell of Canada) and in 2007 became the second woman to chair a G8 summit after Thatcher. In 2007, Merkel became a Member of the Council of Women World Leaders, a group of women heads of state and government.

IRELAND

Mary Patricia McAleese is the eighth, and current, President of Ireland. She was first elected president in 1997 and was re-elected, without contest, to another seven year term in 2004. Prior to becoming president she was a barrister, journalist and academic. She was ranked the 55th most powerful woman in the world on a list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes.

JAMAICA

Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller, is the Prime Minister of Jamaica since 30 March 2006. She became the first female head of government of the nation and the third in the Anglophone Caribbean following Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Janet Jagan of Guyana. She also holds the position of president of the ruling People’s National Party.

LATVIA

Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is the current and first female President of Latvia. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and reelected in 2003.

Throughout her two presidential terms, she has been very popular among Latvians; her approval rating has ranged between 70% and 85%. She has been most active in foreign policy. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is known for her role in Latvia’s NATO membership and its accession into the European Union, which Latvia joined in 2004. She is also a strong supporter of the U.S. policy in Iraq. On various occasions she has asked that Russia admit to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States

LIBERIA

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the current president of Liberia and Africa’s first elected female head of state. She is the first elected black woman head of state in the world. She is a mother of four. She is has bacholor’s degree in accounting from Madison Business College and an MPA from Harvard. She is often referred to as the “Iron Lady”.

MOZAMBIQUE

Luísa Dias Diogo has been prime minister of Mozambique since February 2004. Before becoming prime minister she was minister of planning and finance, and she continued to hold that post until February 2005.[1] She is the first female to be prime minister of Mozambique. Luisa Diogo represents the party FRELIMO, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975. Diogo studied economics at Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1983. She went on to obtain a master’s degree in financial economics at the University of London in 1992. In 1980, she began working in Mozambique’s Finance Ministry. She became a department’s head in 1986 and in 1989 became national budget director. Then she worked for the World Bank as program officer in Mozambique. In 1994 she joined the FRELIMO government as deputy finance minister.

NEW ZEALAND

Helen Elizabeth Clark became Prime Minister of New Zealand in December 1999 and entered her third successive term in that office in 2005. Clark has held the positions of Prime Minister and of Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage from 1999 until the present. She also has ministerial responsibility for the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and for Ministerial Services. Her particular areas of interest include social policy and international affairs. As of 2006, she is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 20th most powerful woman in the world.

PHILLIPINES

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the 14th and current president of the Philippines. She is the country’s second female president after Corazon C. Aquino. She is the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal. Prior to becoming president, Arroyo was the country’s first female vice president. She was launched into the presidency in 2001 by the EDSA II that ousted Joseph Ejercito-Estrada from power amid accusations of widespread corruption. Arroyo was elected to a six-year term in 2004, defeating popular actor Fernando Poe, Jr. In 2005, Arroyo was selected as the fourth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. She is ranked as number 45 on Forbes magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2006.

Source: Wikipedia

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