Being a woman in politics is a heavily discussed topic in the world right now. For those of us who began their political awakening around the time of the 2016 election, we started noticing the debates around women and their role in politics. Comments were made about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about how she wasn’t a good fit for being the president because she is a woman. She was brushed off as a politician and her achievements until that point were ignored. This sparked the conversation of the difficulties of being a woman in politics, and how it was virtually impossible to get elected into politics if you are a woman. However, this isn’t the case all around the world. In fact, in many countries women have had higher positions of power for years. And even in the U.S. within this past year, we have had the highest number of women get elected into Congress ever. This is an amazing event for women, and many of the women elected all across the world have made efforts to help other women out. But because so many female politicians are found not just in the U.S. but across the world as well, it can be easy to overlook them. So, without further ado, here are five female politicians from across the world.
- Jewel Howard-Taylor
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Jewel Howard-Taylor has a complex political history. She was married to the former president of Liberia–Charles Taylor–who was a convicted war criminal that was exiled to Nigeria in 2006. After she divorced him because of his actions, she was elected to the Senate of Liberia in Bong County and from there worked to further her education, earning degrees from the University of Liberia and Cuttington University. In 2018, she was elected as the Vice President of Liberia alongside George Weah, the current president of Liberia. However, there are some beliefs that she holds that aren’t great for a politician. Back in 2012, she attempted to pass a bill that would allow homosexuality to be punished with the death penalty. Thankfully, this bill was turned down with a hard no.
- Katerina Sakellaropoulou
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Just last week, Katerina Sakellaropoulou was elected the first female president of Greece by parliament. But even before her election she held one of the highest positions in the country. She served as president of the Council of State, which is the highest court in Greece. This was a big deal in Greece since not many women hold positions of power, and a lot of people are saying this is a big turn for the country.
- Rosalía Arteaga
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Rosalía Arteaga has an…interesting political history. Back in 1996 she became the Vice President of Ecuador. In 1997, the president Abdala Bucaram was deemed mentally unfit to rule by the Congress, and so Rosalía took over as president–for exactly two days. It seems Congress wasn’t on board for having a female president yet though so they quickly reinstated Abdala. Even though Rosalía wasn’t president for long, she is still considered as Ecuador’s first female president.
- Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca
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You know that little island between Italy and the North African Coast? That’s called Malta, and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was the president of it from 2014-2019. While she wasn’t the first female president of Malta, she was the youngest president to ever be sworn in there. Before her presidency, Marie-Louise served in the House of Representatives of Malta as a member of Parliament from 1998 to 2014, which means she was very qualified for the role of president. Although she isn’t president anymore, she has made lasting impacts through her actions such as being a member of the Advisory Board of Women Political Leaders Global Forum and leading a campaign that supports girls becoming leaders.
- Sheikh Hasina
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Sheikh Hasina Wazed has been listed in Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world, and for good reason. She is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, ruling since 2009, but she also held the office of Prime Minister once before, from 1996 to 2001. As the daughter of the first president of Bangladesh, she has had a difficult start to her life. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a widely hated man for his political actions, to the point where he, along with most of Hasina’s family, was assassinated and she had to live as a refugee with her grandmother. In her exile from Bangladesh, she worked to be elected as the president of the Bangladesh Awami League which was a political party in Bangladesh. This allowed her back into the country, though it did lead to her being placed under house arrest several times. Despite that all, she continued to work to win elections, even with opposition from many citizens. There was a snag to her political career back in 2007, when she was arrested on the grounds of extortion. This only lasted for a few months though until she was released on parole on the grounds of medical reasons.
There are so many women in politics all across the world, making a mark on the world and gaining power. And a majority of them work hard to encourage and support girls to become leaders, creating organizations and policies that help further that goal. While this may be the first time you have heard about these leaders, hopefully it has opened your eyes to how many women are in power in countries around the world. And who knows? Maybe their stories of struggle and perseverance will inspire you to take the step and put your name out there. People might think it’s a man’s world, but with all these women I have mentioned and more, how could it be?