21 female political leaders you need to know about: Part one

A roll-call of the political elite in the past fifty years is a depressing document for anyone with a passing interest in gender equality. It has been sixty-one years since the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women came into effect. This was the first international legislation protecting the equal status of women to exercise political rights to vote and to hold office.

As of 2015, the Convention has 123 state parties including Palestine. The political landscape remains almost entirely male-dominated. Only 21.9% of national parliamentarians worldwide are female. These are the states with female leaders right now.

Argentina: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

Kirchner is Argentina’s President. She is the second woman to serve in the role, the first directly-elected female president and the first woman to be re-elected. She has been the First Lady, a Senator and a lawyer. Detractors accuse her of cronyism and corruption. The public keep voting her back with huge margins. Her faction of the Justicialist Party is known for radical socialist ideology.

Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina

Hasina has been the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since 2009. This is her third term. She survived an assassination attempt in 2004 between her first two terms. Her re-election in 2008 was a landslide and she was voted back again in 2014. She is a controversial figure. She has been indicted on extortion charges and accused of masterminding the assassination of rival political leaders. She refused refugees from Myanmar access to Bangladesh in 2012.

Chile: Michelle Bachelet

Bachelet is serving her second term as Chile’s President. She was the first woman elected to the post in 2006. Between terms, she was the first executive director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). She is a doctor and a military strategist. The current president of Chile’s senate is also a woman, Isabel Allende. This is a record-breaking double-header in Chilean political history.

Denmark: Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Thorning-Schmidt is the Prime Minister of Denmark and leader of the Social Democrat Party. She is the first woman to hold either post. Before her election as Prime Minister, she was an MEP. She holds a degree in political science from the University of Copenhagen. Concerns about privatization in 2014 led to a major cabinet reshuffle when hard-left supporters left her coalition government.

Germany: Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel is the leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union and the Chancellor of Germany since 2005. She is the first woman to hold either post. She has a PhD in physical chemistry. She has been President of the European Council and chair of the G8. Many consider her the de facto leader of the European Union. Her insistence on austerity-driven economic policy has made her unpopular in countries less stable than Germany.

Jamaica: Portia Simpson-Miller

Simpson-Miller has been Jamaica’s Prime Minister since 2012. This is her second term. She leads the People’s National Party. The group has largely abandoned socialism for neo-liberal policies and globalization. Simpson-Miller was elected vice-president of Socialist International in 2013. She supports LGBT rights and is anti-monarchy. Equality is a key focus of her platform.

Liberia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Sirleaf has been the President of Liberia since 2006. She is the first elected female head of state in Africa. She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2011 for her work in women’s rights. In 2013, she received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. She has worked for the UN and the World Bank. She has been imprisoned and exiled. She made primary education free and compulsory for all children and established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.