Women Politicians
- PowHERup Staff
- Sep 5, 2020
- 2 min read
The nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee seems like a giant leap forward in bridging the gap between men and women in government. Although the number of women elected to Congress is increasing, it is still not proportional to the population demographics of the USA (if it was, 50% of Congress would be made up of women!).
Is the rest of the world any better about this issue? It turns out that America lags behind in the equal gender representation department. Over a quarter of the world’s countries have had women in their highest elected offices since 1960. Today we will talk about some of those powerful women.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
As the first woman to be elected head of government in the modern world, Bandaranaike made history. After her husband (who was the prime minister) was assassinated, she became the leader of a popular party in Sri Lanka. Her party won the 1960 election, so she became the head of state and served for a total of 18 years (1960-65; 1970-77; 1994-2000). In a time when the USA had only granted suffrage to women 40 years prior, she was running a country. In addition, her daughter, Chandrika Kumaturanga also served as a prime minister and later as the first President of Sri Lanka. She died in 2000 of a heart attack.
Indira Gandhi
Born in 1917, Indira Priyadarshini Nehru was very active in the Indian independence movement from Britain. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India’s first prime minister. She went on to become India’s first (and only) female prime minister in 1966. Although Gandhi faced much opposition during her terms, she continued to persevere, serving a total of 15 years. She was assassinated in 1984 by her own bodyguards.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, becoming the first woman to lead a major Western country. She served for 11 years (which is the longest of any British prime minister in the 20th century!) and earned the title of “Iron Lady” because of her strong stance against communism. She promoted free-market policies and individual economic independence. She is a great role model and was one of the most impactful prime ministers in the last century!
Angela Merkel
Merkel is the first woman to be the head of government of a G20 country. She was the youngest German chancellor, and her time in office spanned a variety of issues, like the refugee crisis, the Europe debt crisis, and much more. She served for 4 terms, and she was the head of the most populous and powerful country in Europe. She also helped lead and run the 4th largest economy in the world.
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