The US still hasn’t had a female leader – here are the countries that have

This year, 45 countries in the United Nations held national elections to determine their top leadership. Of those, only four chose a woman to become head of state or government, according to CNN’s analysis of data from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

While the United States had the opportunity to elect its first female president, voters hoping to see the glass ceiling shattered saw defeat for the second time in eight years. Three of the countries that elected a female leader in 2024 – North Macedonia, Namibia and Mexico – did so for the first time in their nation’s history.

In the period after the Second World War, the first woman was elected to lead a UN country 64 years ago. Here’s a look at where and when women have secured national leadership positions since then.

It wasn’t until the last two decades that many more countries saw their first female leaders, according to CNN’s analysis of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Women’s Power Indexwhich includes UN member states and excludes monarchs, monarch-appointed leaders and heads of collective governments.

49 UN member states have had one female leader in the last seven decades. A further 18 countries have had two female leaders, nine countries have had three female leaders, and just two countries – Finland and Iceland – have been led by four different female leaders. Yet a woman has never served as head of state or government in 115 UN member states.

The first continent with a UN member state to have a female leader after World War II was Asia. In 1960, Sri Lanka – then known as Ceylon – elected its first female Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She entered politics after her husband was assassinated while serving as Prime Minister.

Since then, women have led 13 other countries in Asia. Many of them entered politics through their husbands or fathers in former colonial countries.

“Many of the earliest women to come to power were those with dynastic connections to power and in places where the dynastic connection was very closely tied to the struggle for independence,” said Minna Cowper-Coles, researcher at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London.

Asia also leads when it comes to women’s tenure in power, with Sheikh Hasina holding the record for the highest number of years a woman has served as a national leader.

Hasina was Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001, and again from 2009 until her resignation in August 2024 after massive protests against the government.

Her father, an independence leader, was Bangladesh’s first prime minister.

Isabel Perón was the first female head of state in the Americas. Her husband, Juan Perón, was president of Argentina and died in office in 1974. As vice president, she took over many of his duties when he became ill and was sworn in to the presidency after his death.

In October, Claudia Sheinbaum was inaugurated as Mexico’s first female president.

The first woman to become the head of an African country was Elisabeth Domitien, who was appointed Prime Minister of the Central African Republic in 1975.

The first elected female head of state in Africa was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who became president of Liberia in 2006.

In 2021, Tunisia became the first Arab country to be ruled by a woman when Najla Bouden was appointed prime minister by the country’s president.

Margaret Thatcher became Europe’s first female prime minister in 1979. A few months later, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo from Portugal became the continent’s second female head of government.

Since 2010, 28 countries in Europe have had at least one female leader, and the region now has the highest proportion of countries that have had a female leader. About two-thirds, or 65%, of the 43 UN member states in the region have had a female leader, and just under a quarter of them are currently headed by a woman.

European female leaders have also achieved significant tenure, with five leaders in the top 10 longest serving, all with over 10 years in office. Angela Merkel, who first became Chancellor of Germany in 2005, held the role for 16 years.

Jenny Shipley was the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving from 1997 to 1999. Julia Gillard was the first woman to hold the title of Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 2010 to 2013.

Experts say it is important for women to play key roles in government because it broadens representation.

“We know there’s a kind of power in seeing people like you represented. It means something,” Farida Jalalzai, associate dean for global initiatives and engagement and professor of political science at Virginia Tech, said in an interview with CNN ahead of that American elections. “You see more examples of different people in these roles, whether they’re nominees, whether they’re presidents, whether they’re prime ministers, and it breaks down notions of what we think these leaders should look like.”

One possible positive outcome of women winning elections around the world is that their success may inspire others to pursue leadership roles, encouraging younger generations of women into politics.

“We can talk about the strength of recruiting,” Jalalzai said. “If a woman wins, then maybe we’ve learned the lesson that a woman can win… so you end up finding more women willing to throw their hats in the ring.”

Methodology

The Council on Foreign Relations maintains an index of UN member states and their progress toward gender equality in political participation since 1946. Its database includes whether a woman is currently or has ever been a head of state or government and was last updated on Dec. 9, 2024. CNN updated the list using additional research.

This data does not count: monarchs or governors appointed by monarchs; acting or interim heads of state or government who were not subsequently elected or confirmed; honorary heads of state or government; joint or collective heads of state or government and chairmen or presiding members thereof.

As a result, female leaders of Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina are excluded. Kosovo, although it has a female president, is not a UN member state, so the country is excluded

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