Top 10 Most Famous Women Political Leaders
by Ejaz Khan
Politics they say is not a woman’s cup of tea, however there have been many who have proved this stereotyping statement wrong. If you do not agree, below is a list of ten women political leaders who have been very famous for their time in the politics. Let’s get started:
10. Golda Meir
Belonging to Israel, Meyerson was a teacher and a politician who was later appointed as Israel’s fourth prime minister. She was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel’s first and the world’s third woman 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”; she was often portrayed as the “strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people”.
9. Dilma Rousseff
The current and 36th president of Brazil, Rousseff is the first woman to hold the office. She was previously the Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. She is the daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur. Rousseff became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d’état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. She was eventually captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972.
8. Johanna Sigurdardottir
She is the prime minister of Ireland. Sigurdardottir has also served as the minister of social affairs and security. This woman is also known to have become Iceland’s first prime minister and the world’s first openly lesbian head of government. In 2009, Forbes listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world.
7. Yingluck Shinawatra
Nicknames as PU, Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman and politician, member of the Pheu Thai Party, the 28th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. She is Thailand’s first female Prime Minister and at 45 is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years.
6. Sonia Gandhi
As president of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi heads the ruling political party of the world’s second largest population. She is an Italian-born Indian politician. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family. In 2013, Forbes listed her at #21 among the most powerful people, and was ranked as the world’s 9th most powerful woman. >> Political Leaders who were Assassinated .
5. Angela Merkel
The world’s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Angela Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist, who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. She was ranked as the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes magazine in 2012, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman, and is now ranked fifth. >>  Powerful Female Politicians .
4. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
The 24th and current president of Liberia, Sirleaf is one of the founders of National Patriotic Front of Liberia. She is also famous for being the first female head of state in Africa. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” She was conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi Prize by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 12 September 2013.
3. Isabel Martinez de Peron
Former president of Argentina, better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, spent a controversial life. She was the third wife of the former President, Juan Perón. During her husband’s third term as president from 1973 to 1974, Isabel served as both vice president and First Lady. Following her husband’s death in office in 1974, Isabel served as president from 1 July 1974 to 24 March 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere in modern times.
2. Park Geun Hye
Known for being the first female in South Korean politics who was elected as a president. Hye also is the first woman head of state in modern history of Northeast Asia. Prior to her presidency, she was the chairwoman of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). She is generally considered to be one of the most influential politicians, most powerful personalities in the history of South Korea.
1. Benazir Bhutto
Probably the first Muslim who came forward and became the prime minister of Pakistan not once but for two terms. She is famous for her leadership, her concern for people and her sophistication. Bhutto is also the eldest daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who also served as the prime minister of the country back in 1971.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, after leaving PPP’s last rally in the city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. >>  Top 10 Pakistani Women .
woohoo to all these women!! great job, let’s keep it coming!
John
Don’t help me kill all , please- it’s tranlsate in Russian Lang
Du Peuple
Generally, Park Geun Hye is know for his father who dictated Korean over 18 years disregarding Human Rights
Mo
Margaret Thatcher should be number 1.  She took on the Soviet Union, smashed down the Iron Wall, defeated terrorists all around the world…. Thatcher has had more influence on geopolitical and human history than all of the others on this list combined.  I’m not sure how this list was compiled, but it smacks of a naïve recollection of history.
luke
The USSR’s fall can hardly be attributed to either Thatcher or Regan. It fell mainly because Brezhnev let the economy stagnate and Gorbachev’s failed reforms. The most Thatcher did to bring down the USSR was too help the US by funding terrorists in Afghanistan who fought the communist government (which by the way was a lot better then the Taliban one that replaced it). The fall of the Iron Curtain is mainly down to John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa and Gorbachev who helped lead to the ousting the most extreme communist leaders like Honecker, Ceaușescu, and Zhivkov as well as put pressure onto the ruling communist parties to reform.
As for defeating terrorists…the most notable anti-terrorist thing Thatcher did was to fund the Apartheid government of South Africa in its hunting down of members of the ANC including Nelson Mandela. She also supported the Pinochet government of Chile hunt down “terrorists” who opposed Pinochets oppressive rule, and as previously mentioned supported US funding of the Afghan Mujahideen who eventually developed into the well known terrorist groups of the Taliban and al-Qeada. Hardly defeating terrorists.
Thatcher was influential – she helped reform the British economy into the horrible, horrible mess it is today and increase inequality in Britain. The only two positive things to be said about Thatcher is her role in the Falklands war and helping reduce the power of trade unions
Evi_Driehn
Thatcher reforming british “economy” into a mess? It was Blair and Brown who transformed the city of london into a gobal call-center, not Thatcher.
Manish
Indira gandhi should be in the list. She broke Pakistan into two countries.
Got rid of khalistani terrorists. Was the greatest pm of India.
Evi_Driehn
Merkel is, by all means, the worst chancellor germany ever had. Governing constantly against her own population, selling germanys respective interests to the facist eu-government, she transformed the former conservative CDU into a social-democratic mess.
Kamalnath Shenoy
I thought, the names of Mrs, Indira Gandhi, Margaret
Thatcher and Mrs. Sirimao Bandarnaike are prominent enough names.
wb
So a Pakistani makes a sh*ts-for-content list and puts Benazir Bhutto on the top.
He forgets that the greatest female leader ever was one named Indira Gandhi, who tore up a failed cUntry called Pakistan and pulled Bangladesh out of its belly to stop a genocide where this writer’s cUntry’s army had already killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women.
G-G