Number of countries with women in highest position of executive power 1960-2023

The highest position of executive power has been held by a woman in just 59 countries since 1960. Since this time, 77 women have held the most powerful positions of executive power in their respective countries. Since Sirimavo Bandaranaike was first elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960, the number of women in power has grown slowly, with the fastest growth coming in the past 15 years. At the beginning of 2023, there were 15 countries led by women, with Italy and Honduras electing their first female presidents in 2022. Despite growing numbers of women leaders in recent years, there has never been more than 17 women in these positions of power in a single year, which is less than 10% of the number of men who have held these positions (as today, there are 193 UN member states).

Records

The women who have served the longest consecutive terms in these positions are Angela Merkel of Germany (16 years, 16 days), Dame Eugenia Charles of Dominica (14 years, 328 days), and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (12 years, 6 days). The longest combined non-consecutive terms were held by Indira Gandhi of India (16 years, 15 days) and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina (over 19 years in total). Just 14 countries have had more than one woman in the highest position of executive power, and most of these countries can be found either in the Indian sub-continent or in Europe. Of these 14, Finland, Moldova, New Zealand, and the UK are the only countries to have had three female leaders (but all are currently headed by men), although the unique federal system of Switzerland has had five women serve in eight annual-terms as President of the Swiss Confederation.

The first woman Prime Minister

The first democratically elected female Prime Minister was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, who took over the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party when her husband was assassinated in 1959. Bandaranaike successfully led her party to victory in three elections, in 1960, 1970 and 1994, however constitutional changes in the 1980s meant that her final term as Prime Minister was spent in a more ceremonial role, while the President now held the real executive power (although the President at this time was also a woman; Bandaranaike's daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga).