Current women world leaders
Joyce Banda
Title: President
The 62-year-old president of Malawi – who assumed office April 7, 2012 – founded this political party in 2011 and made history as her country’s first female president after the death of this leader.
Laura Chinchilla
Title: President
The longtime politician is a member of this left-leaning party and assumed office May 8, 2012, becoming Costa Rica’s first female president at the age of 51. Where did she earn her master’s degree?
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Title: President
The 59-year-old leader of Argentina took office on Dec. 10, 2007, (who was her predecessor?) as the second female president of her South American country. Who was the first?
Park Geun-hye
Title: President
In December 2012, Park Geun-hye made history when she became the first woman elected as president of South Korea (who was her predecessor?). The 60-year-old conservative daughter of a former president (whom?) assumed office on Feb. 25 and is widely considered the most influential politician in Korea (since whom?).
Julia Gillard
Title: Prime Minister
The 51-year-old Australian leader – whose anti-misogyny speech (aimed at whom?) became an Internet sensation last year – took office on June 24, 2010, as the first female leader of her country as well as her political party.
Dalia Grybauskaitė
Title: President
The president of Lithuania – often known by this nickname – studied at this American university before becoming the former Soviet republic’s first female head of state on July 12, 2009, at age 53. Who was her predecessor?
Atifete Jahjaga
Title: President
The first female leader of Kosovo (find it on a map) – a former police commander who trained at a U.S. institution – took office on April 7, 2011, becoming the war-torn country’s youngest person to be elected to the office (how old was she?).
Angela Merkel
Title: Chancellor
The 58-year-old chemist entered politics after world-changing events in 1989 and became the first woman to hold Germany’s highest office on Nov. 22, 2005. She hosted a 2007 summit with other international leaders and was at the top of this prestigious list two years in a row.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Title: Prime Minister
The first female leader of Trinidad and Tobago (find it on a map) – who assumed office at age 58 on May 26, 2010, (watch it) and leads a coalition of her island country’s political parties – contracted a common tropical disease in 2011.
Dilma Rousseff
Title: President
The 65-year-old Brazilian head of state – a former political prisoner now known as one of the most powerful people in the world – became the South American country’s first woman to hold the office on Jan. 1, 2011.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Title: Prime Minister
Denmark’s first female prime minister (who appointed her?) began her first term on Oct. 3, 2011, at age 44, and is the leader of this left-leaning party.
Yingluck Shinawatra
Title: Prime Minister
The first female prime minister of Thailand – whose older brother also led the country – earned a master’s degree from this American university and became one of the country’s youngest leaders when she took office Aug. 5, 2011. How old was she?
Johanna Sigurdardottir
Title: Prime Minister
Iceland’s first female prime minister (what other first did she achieve?) – who took office on Feb. 1, 2009, and is now 70 years old – made a big announcement last year regarding her career.
Portia Simpson-Miller
Title: Prime Minister
The 67-year-old longtime politician became Jamaica’s first female prime minister on March 30, 2006, (whom did she succeed?) and took office for the second time on Jan. 5, 2012. What did she do between terms?
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Title: President
The 74-year-old first elected female head of state of Liberia – and all of Africa – first assumed office on Jan. 16, 2006, and won a prestigious prize five years later, but was linked to a controversial documentary film last year.
Title: Prime Minister
The 65-year-old daughter of the founder of Bangladesh (what happened to her family?) first served as prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and resumed the office on Jan. 6, 2009. Where was she born?
