Map Shows All the Countries That Have Women Leaders
Originally published by Maya Mehrara for Newsweek
As the race to the White House intensifies, the prospect of the U.S. finally having its first female president is getting closer.
Kamala Harris would be far from the first woman to run a country, but not many women have maintained political leadership roles historically.
A new report by the Pew Research Center revealed that only a third of United Nations member states have ever had a female leader, and women currently serve as leaders in 13 of the 193 member nations.
Women are currently leading nations including Mexico, Barbados, Denmark, Thailand, Marshall Islands, Tanzania, Samoa, Honduras, Italy, Peru, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, and Switzerland.
Moreover, the report found that nine of the 13 female world leaders are their country’s first woman leaders.
When Did Women Start To Become World Leaders?
The first female world leader was elected in Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, when Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister in 1960.
The tide began to turn globally in the 1990s and the 2010s, but since then, only 60 countries, 31 percent of U.N. member states, have ever had a woman leader.
Jennifer Piscopo, a professor of gender and politics at the Royal Holloway University of London, told Newsweek that this speaks to the broader pattern of underrepresentation of women in positions of power.
“At the UN level, it’s not just which countries who are members of the UN are led by women, but who is leading the UN member state delegations, because it’s those women that have the voice in the UN negotiations, and that there has not been a woman who’s been secretary general of the UN,” Piscopo said, adding that women have also been underrepresented as top diplomats and top leaders of international organizations.
Piscopo said, “When political scientists think about gender, they’re also thinking not just about counting bodies, but they’re thinking about what are the structures of power even within institutions, even when women are or are not present in certain numbers that are still affecting who has influence, who has access, and who has a voice.”
What Do Americans Think Of a Woman President?
Although Kamala Harris is not the first woman to run for president in the U.S., she might be the first candidate Americans are ready for, as new polls indicate that the majority of Americans believe the country is ready for a female president.
A poll surveying 2,000 voters aged 18 to 34 conducted by US News in late August found that more than 80 percent of voters in key battleground states said that a woman could be an effective president and strong leader.