List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government
Name Country Office Mandate start Mandate end Term length Head of state or government
Yevgenia Bosch Ukrainian People 's Republic of Soviets Chairwoman of the People 's Secretariat of Ukraine 30 December 1917 1 March 1918 61 days Head of government
Khertek Anchimaa-Toka Tannu Tuva Chairperson of the Presidium of the Little Khural 6 April 1940 11 October 1944 4 years , 188 days Head of state
Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa Mongolia Acting Chairperson of the Presidium of the State Great Khural 7 September 1953 7 July 1954 303 days Head of state
Sirimavo Bandaranaike Ceylon Prime Minister 21 July 1960 27 March 1965 4 years , 249 days Head of government
Indira Gandhi India Prime Minister 24 January 1966 24 April 1977 11 years , 90 days Head of government
Soong Ching-ling China Acting Co-Chairperson 31 October 1968 24 April 1972 3 years , 176 days Head of state
Golda Meir Israel Prime Minister 17 March 1969 3 June 1974 5 years , 78 days Head of government
Sirimavo Bandaranaike Ceylon / Sri Lanka Prime Minister 29 May 1970 23 July 1977 7 years , 55 days Head of government
Isabel Martínez de Perón Argentina President 1 July 1974 24 March 1976 1 year , 267 days Head of state and government
Elisabeth Domitien Central African Republic Prime Minister 2 January 1975 7 April 1976 1 year , 96 days *
Margaret Thatcher United Kingdom Prime Minister 4 May 1979 28 November 1990 11 years , 208 days Head of government
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo Portugal Prime Minister 1 August 1979 3 January 1980 186 days Head of government
Lidia Gueiler Tejada Bolivia Acting President 16 November 1979 17 July 1980 244 days Head of state
Indira Gandhi India Prime Minister 15 January 1980 31 October 1984 ( assassinated ) 4 years , 290 days Head of government
Dame Eugenia Charles Dominica Prime Minister 21 July 1980 14 June 1995 14 years , 328 days Head of government
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Iceland President 1 August 1980 31 July 1996 16 years , 0 days Head of state
Gro Harlem Brundtland Norway Prime Minister 4 February 1981 14 October 1981 252 days Head of government
Soong Ching-ling China Honorary President 16 May 1981 28 May 1981 12 days Head of state
Agatha Barbara Malta President 15 February 1982 15 February 1987 5 years , 0 days Head of state
Milka Planinc Yugoslavia Prime Minister 16 May 1982 15 May 1986 3 years , 364 days Head of government
The following is a list of women who have been elected head of state or government of their respective countries since the interwar period (1918-1939), and below that is a list of appointed heads of state. The first list includes female presidents who are heads of state and may also be heads of government, as well as female heads of government who are not concurrently head of state, such as prime ministers. The list does not include female monarchs who are head of state. Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, of the mostly unrecognized and now-defunct Tuvan People's Republic, is regarded as first ever elected woman head of state in the world. She became the chair of the country's presidium in 1940. The first woman to become prime minister of a country was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), when she led her party to victory at the 1960 general election. The first woman to serve as president of a country was Isabel Martínez de Perón of Argentina, who as vice-president succeeded to the presidency in 1974 after the death of her husband. The first woman elected president of a country was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland, who won the 1980 presidential election as well as three others to also become the longest-serving female head of state in history (15 years and 365 days in office). Also included in the first list are twelve women who have held an office styled either as Prime Minister or State Counsellor, during periods when the country had an executive presidency, and the Prime Minister (or a similar position) was not legally and constitutionally the head of government, but rather a deputy to the president who was the combined head of state and head of government. These countries are the Central African Republic (1960-1976), Guyana (since 1980), Sri Lanka (since 1978), Namibia (since 1990), South Korea (since 1987), Peru (since 1993), and Myanmar (since 2016). Such leaders are marked by an asterisk.