In 2015, there were 18 female leaders and 12 female heads of government around the world. Currently, 1 in 10 member states of the United Nations have a female leader. 19% of the 114th Congress was comprised of women, and 5% of the Fortune 500 companies have a woman CEO. According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, when asked if a woman would make a good leader, the majority of Americans said yes. They believed women were just as capable to lead as men and would even be more talented in areas such as organization and the ability to show compassion. If this is true, then why isn’t Congress 50% men and 50% women, and why hasn’t the United States ever had a woman president?
The inequality between men and women isn’t anything new, and it is understood that there is a double standard where women have to work twice as hard as men in order to prove themselves. Even with this well-known fact that there is a lack of women in leadership roles, it hasn’t stopped many powerful female figures from moving their way up the political ladder and snatching their rightful place in the presidential office. Here are a few rockstar female role models that have beat the odds and shown the world that women too can run a country.
Isabel Martínez de Perón: President of Argentina
Perón was born to a lower middle class family in 1931 in La Rioja, Argentina. Her husband, Juan Perón, was very ill when he ran for the presidential office in 1973; therefore, Perón stepped up to help him lead. After he passed away in 1974, she took over and made history as the first female president.
Vigdis Finnbogadóttir: President of Iceland
Finnbogadóttir was born to a wealthy family in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1930. She is a very cultured women and served as director of the Reykjavík Theatre Company from 1972 to 1980. In 1980, she ran for president as a divorced single mother. She won 33.2% of the national votes beating out her 3 male candidates. She became the 4th president of Iceland and the first democratically elected woman president. She was reelected three more times, and after her time in office, she became president of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino: President of the Philippines
Aquino was born in 1933 into a wealthy political family. She married Benigno Simeon Aquino Jr who was a major politician in the Philippines. During her husband’s political career, Aquino raised five children, and in 1980, she and her family were exiled to the United States due to her husband’s political career. When they returned to the Philippines in 1983, her husband was assassinated. In 1986, Aquino became president and helped restore democratic rule in the Philippines until she left office in 1992.
Mary Robinson: President of Ireland
Robinson was born in 1944 and is a successful lawyer, politician and diplomat. She became the first woman president of Ireland in 1990, and in 1997, right before her time as president ended, she became the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In addition to her time in the president’s office and her work with the United Nations, Robinson founded a NGO, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, in 2002.
Joyce Banda: President of Malawi
Banda was born in 1950, and she began her career as a secretary and eventually entered the political world. She is a mother of five, and from 2009 to 2012, she served as Vice President of Malawi. in 2012, she became president and made history as the first woman to serve as a head of state in Southern Africa. She is a big supporter of women’s rights especially after her own experience in an abusive marriage.
These five influential female role models are a few examples of the powerful women in today’s world and throughout history. These political leaders have shown the world that women are just as capable of leading a nation as men.
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