While most countries have been ruled almost entirely by men throughout their histories, an increasing number of countries are electing women to high political offices, including heads of state. Many of these women are earning praise for their innovative and effective leadership and for providing unique and fresh perspectives on their countries’ challenges.
Here are ten famous countries with female Presidents:
1. Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia. Bidya Devi Bhandari is the incumbent President. She was elected on 29 October 2015, and the parliament elected her the first female president on 28 October 2015. Bhandari served as the Minister of Defence from 2009 to 2011. She also served as the Minister of Environment and Population in 1997 and has been an active campaigner for environmental awareness and women’s rights in Nepal.
2. Taiwan
Taiwan is a country in East Asia with Tsai Ing-wen, as the incumbent President. Ing-wen became the President of Taiwan on 20 May 2016, and she is still active in power. She is the first female president of Taiwan. She became the first female nominated by a major party as a presidential candidate in the history of Taiwan. She won her first term of presidency in the 2016 presidential election by a landslide. In the 2020 election, she was re-elected as president with an increased vote share. Tsai is the second president from the Democratic Progressive Party, and the first to have never held a prior elected executive post.
3. Singapore
Singapore is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. A female President, Halimah Yacob, currently rules the country. She was elected as the President of Singapore on 14 September 2017. She is also the first female president in Singapore’s history Halimah was born on 23 August 1954 in Singapore, to an Indian father and Malay mother. Before her presidency, she was the country’s parliament speaker.
4. Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Paula Mae Weekes is the woman ruling as the incumbent President of Trinidad and Tobago. She was elected as the President on 19 March 2018. Weekes was born on 23 December 1958. She is the first female President of Trinidad and Tobago, the second female head of state in Trinidad and Tobago after Elizabeth II and the second female president of African descent in the Americas. She assumed office on 19 March 2018.
5. Georgia
Georgia is a country located at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Salome Zourabichvili was elected as the incumbent President on 16 December 2018. She is the first woman to be elected as Georgia’s president. Zourabichvili was born on 18 March 1952 in Paris, France into a family of Georgian political refugees. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Ambassador of France to Georgia. In 2004, by mutual agreement between the presidents of France and Georgia, she accepted Georgian nationality and became the Foreign Minister of Georgia.
6. Moldova
Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with Maia Sandu as its president. She was elected on 24 December 2020 and still holds office. Maia Sandu was born on 24 May 1972, She served as the Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 until 14 November 2019. On 12 November 2019, Sandu’s government collapsed after a no-confidence vote. She is the first female president of Moldova.
7. Slovakia
Slovakia is a country located in Europe. Zuzana Caputova was elected as the incumbent President of Slovakia on 15 June 2019, and she is still in power. Caputova is also a lawyer and environmental activist. She is Slovakia’s fifth president, the first woman to hold the presidency, and the youngest president in the history of Slovakia, elected at the age of 45. She won the 2019 presidential election with 58% of the vote in the run-off.
8. Greece
Greece is a country located in southeastern Europe. The incumbent President of Greece is Katerina Sakellaropoulou. She was elected as the President of Greece on 13 March 2020. Sakellaropoulou was born on 30 May 1956 in Thessaloniki, Greece. She was elected to succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos on 22 January 2020. Before she was elected president, Sakellaropoulou served as president of the Council of State, the highest administrative court of Greece. She is the country’s first female president.
9. Barbados
Barbados is located in the Caribbean. Sandra Mason was elected as the President of Barbados on 30 November 2021. Mason was born on 17 January 1949 in Saint Philip, Barbados. She is a politician, lawyer, and diplomat who has served as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously Barbados’s eighth and final governor-general from 2018 to 2021, the second woman to hold the office. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to become the country’s first president and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.
10. Honduras
Honduras is a country located in Central America. The Republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala. Xiomara Castro was elected as the President of Honduras on 27 January 2022, and she is still active in the office. She became the country’s first lady in 2006 following her husband’s victory in the 2005 presidential election. Castro became involved in the National Popular Resistance Front after the 2009 coup d’état which resulted at the end of her husband’s presidency. Due to her husband’s ineligibility, she was nominated as the presidential candidate of the left-wing party in the 2013 election, finishing runner-up to the opposition party’s candidate, Juan Orlando Hernández. Castro was ultimately elected to the presidency in 2021. She is the first president from outside the country’s two-party system since democracy was restored in 1982.
11. Ethiopia
Sahle-Work Zewde on August 11, 2019, emerged as the first female president of Ethiopia, following her election by members of parliament in the country. Ms Sahle-Work is an experienced diplomat who has become Africa’s only female head of state. Her election to the ceremonial position comes a week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.
