Hillary Clinton is one step closer to becoming the first woman to lead the United States. But more than 60 other countries beat America to that milestone

All the countries that had a woman leader before the U.S.


By Amanda Wills, Jacque Smith and Casey Hicks

CNN

June 9, 2016

Hillary Clinton is one step closer to becoming the first woman to lead the United States. But more than 60 other countries beat America to that milestone.*

1960s

Sri Lanka
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 1960

India
Indira Gandhi, 1966

Israel
Golda Meir, 1969

1970s

Argentina
Isabel Perón, 1974

Central African Republic
Elisabeth Domitien, 1975

Portugal
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, 1979

United Kingdom
Margaret Thatcher, 1979

1980s

Dominica
Eugenia Charles, 1980

Iceland
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, 1980

Norway
Gro Harlem Brundtland, 1981

Malta
Agatha Barbara, 1982

Philippines
Corazon Aquino, 1986

Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto, 1988

1990s

Ireland
Mary Robinson, 1990

Lithuania
Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė, 1990

Nicaragua
Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro, 1990

Bangladesh
Khaleda Zia, 1991

France
Édith Cresson, 1991

Poland
Hanna Suchocka, 1992

Burundi
Sylvie Kinigi, 1993

Canada
Kim Campbell, 1993

Rwanda
Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 1993

Turkey
Tansu Çiller, 1993

Haiti
Claudette Werleigh, 1995

Guyana
Janet Rosenberg, 1997

New Zealand
Jenny Shipley, 1997

Latvia
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, 1999

Panama
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez, 1999

Switzerland
Ruth Dreifuss, 1999

2000s

Finland
Tarja Halonen, 2001

Indonesia
Megawati Sukarnoputri, 2001

Senegal
Mame Madior Boye, 2001

São Tomé and Príncipe
Maria das Neves, 2002

Peru
Beatriz Merino, 2003

Macedonia
Radmila Šekerinska, 2004

Mozambique
Luísa Diogo, 2004

Germany
Angela Merkel, 2005

Ukraine
Yulia Tymoshenko, 2005

Chile
Michelle Bachelet, 2006

Jamaica
Portia Simpson-Miller, 2006

Liberia
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 2006

South Korea
Han Myung-sook, 2006

Moldova
Zinaida Greceanîi, 2008

Croatia
Jadranka Kosor, 2009

2010s

Australia
Julia Gillard, 2010

Costa Rica
Laura Chinchilla, 2010

Kyrgyzstan
Roza Otunbayeva, 2010

Slovakia
Iveta Radičová, 2010

Trinidad and Tobago
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, 2010

Denmark
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 2011

Kosovo
Atifete Jahjaga, 2011

Mali
Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, 2011

Thailand
Yingluck Shinawatra, 2011

Malawi
Joyce Banda, 2012

Slovenia
Alenka Bratušek, 2013

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Sibel Siber, 2013

Brazil
Dilma Rousseff, 2014

Mauritius
Ameenah Firdaus Gurib-Fakim, 2015

Namibia
Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, 2015

Nepal
Bidhya Devi Bhandari, 2015

Taiwan
Tsai Ing-wen, 2016

*This list is sorted by the date each country elected or appointed its first female president or prime minister. It does not include acting or interim leaders who were not later elected or confirmed.