List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government
| Name | Portrait | Country | Office | Mandate start | Mandate end | Term length | Head of state or government | Executive or non-executive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khertek Anchimaa-Toka |  Tannu Tuva[f] | Chairperson of the Presidium of the Little Khural | 6 April 1940 | 11 October 1944 | 4 years, 188 days | Head of state | ||
| Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa | Mongolia | Acting Chairperson of the Presidium of the State Great Khural | 7 September 1953 | 7 July 1954 | 303 days | Head of state | ||
| Sirimavo Bandaranaike |  Ceylon[g] | Prime Minister | 21 July 1960 | 27 March 1965 | 4 years, 249 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Indira Gandhi |  India | Prime Minister | 24 January 1966 | 24 April 1977 | 11 years, 90 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Soong Ching-ling |  China | Acting Co-Chairperson | 31 October 1968 | 24 April 1972 | 3 years, 176 days | Head of state | ||
| Golda Meir |  Israel | Prime Minister | 17 March 1969 | 3 June 1974 | 5 years, 78 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Ceylon/ Sri Lanka | Prime Minister | 29 May 1970 | 23 July 1977 | 7 years, 55 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Isabel Martínez de Perón |  Argentina | President | 1 July 1974 | 24 March 1976 | 1 year, 267 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Elisabeth Domitien |  Central African Republic | Prime Minister | 2 January 1975 | 7 April 1976 | 1 year, 96 days | Head of government | ||
| Margaret Thatcher |  United Kingdom | Prime Minister | 4 May 1979 | 28 November 1990 | 11 years, 208 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo |  Portugal | Prime Minister | 1 August 1979 | 3 January 1980 | 186 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Lidia Gueiler Tejada |  Bolivia | Acting President | 16 November 1979 | 17 July 1980 | 244 days | Head of state | ||
| Indira Gandhi | India | Prime Minister | 15 January 1980 | 31 October 1984 (assassinated) | 4 years, 290 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Dame Eugenia Charles |  Dominica | Prime Minister | 21 July 1980 | 14 June 1995 | 14 years, 328 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Vigdís Finnbogadóttir |  Iceland | President | 1 August 1980 | 1 August 1996 | 16 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Gro Harlem Brundtland |  Norway | Prime Minister | 4 February 1981 | 14 October 1981 | 252 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Soong Ching-ling | China | Honorary President | 16 May 1981 | 28 May 1981 | 12 days | Head of state | ||
| Agatha Barbara |  Malta | President | 15 February 1982 | 15 February 1987 | 5 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Milka Planinc |  Yugoslavia | Prime Minister | 16 May 1982 | 15 May 1986 | 3 years, 364 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Carmen Pereira |  Guinea-Bissau | Acting President | 14 May 1984 | 16 May 1984 | 2 days | Head of state | ||
| Corazon Aquino |  Philippines | President | 25 February 1986 | 30 June 1992 | 6 years, 126 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Gro Harlem Brundtland | Norway | Prime Minister | 9 May 1986 | 16 October 1989 | 3 years, 160 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Stella Sigcau |  Transkei | Prime Minister | 5 October 1987 | 30 December 1987 | 86 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Benazir Bhutto |  Pakistan | Prime Minister | 2 December 1988 | 6 July 1990 | 1 year, 216 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Ertha Pascal-Trouillot |  Haiti | Acting President | 13 March 1990 | 7 February 1991 | 331 days | Head of state | ||
| Kazimira Prunskienė |  Lithuania | Prime Minister | 17 March 1990 | 10 January 1991 | 299 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sabine Bergmann-Pohl |  East Germany | President of the People’s Chamber | 5 April 1990 | 2 October 1990 | 180 days | Head of state | ||
| Violeta Chamorro |  Nicaragua | President | 25 April 1990 | 10 January 1997 | 6 years, 260 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Gro Harlem Brundtland | Norway | Prime Minister | 3 November 1990 | 25 October 1996 | 5 years, 357 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Mary Robinson |  Ireland | President | 3 December 1990 | 12 September 1997 | 6 years, 283 days | Head of state | ||
| Khaleda Zia |  Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 27 February 1991 | 30 March 1996 | 5 years, 32 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Édith Cresson |  France | Prime Minister | 15 May 1991 | 2 April 1992 | 323 days | Head of government | ||
| Hanna Suchocka |  Poland | Prime Minister | 11 July 1992 | 25 October 1993 | 1 year, 106 days | Head of government | ||
| Tansu Çiller |  Turkey | Prime Minister | 13 June 1993 | 6 March 1996 | 2 years, 267 days | Head of government | ||
| Kim Campbell |  Canada | Prime Minister | 25 June 1993 | 4 November 1993 | 132 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sylvie Kinigi |  Burundi | Prime Minister | 10 July 1993 | 27 October 1993 | 109 days | Head of government | ||
| Agathe Uwilingiyimana |  Rwanda | Prime Minister | 18 July 1993 | 7 April 1994 (assassinated) | 263 days | Head of government | ||
| Benazir Bhutto | Pakistan | Prime Minister | 19 October 1993 | 5 November 1996 | 3 years, 17 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sylvie Kinigi | Burundi | Acting President | 27 October 1993 | 5 February 1994 | 101 days | Head of state | ||
| Chandrika Kumaratunga | Sri Lanka | President | 12 November 1994 | 19 November 2005 | 11 years, 7 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Reneta Indzhova |  Bulgaria | Acting Prime Minister | 17 October 1994 | 25 January 1995 | 100 days | Head of government | ||
| Claudette Werleigh | Haiti | Prime Minister | 7 November 1995 | 27 February 1996 | 112 days | Head of government | ||
| Sheikh Hasina | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 12 June 1996 | 15 July 2001 | 5 years, 33 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Ruth Perry |  Liberia | Chairwoman of the Council of State | 3 September 1996 | 2 August 1997 | 333 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Rosalía Arteaga |  Ecuador | Acting President | 9 February 1997 | 11 February 1997 | 2 days | Head of state and government | ||
| Mary McAleese | Ireland | President | 11 November 1997 | 10 November 2011 | 13 years, 364 days | Head of state | ||
| Jenny Shipley |  New Zealand | Prime Minister | 8 December 1997 | 10 December 1999 | 2 years, 2 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Janet Jagan |  Guyana | President | 19 December 1997 | 11 August 1999 | 1 year, 235 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Irena Degutienė | Lithuania | Acting Prime Minister | 4 May 1999 | 18 May 1999 | 14 days | Head of government | ||
| Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga |  Latvia | President | 8 July 1999 | 8 July 2007 | 8 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Nyam-Osoryn Tuyaa |  Mongolia | Acting Prime Minister | 22 July 1999 | 30 July 1999 | 8 days | Head of government | ||
| Mireya Moscoso |  Panama | President | 1 September 1999 | 1 September 2004 | 5 years, 0 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Irena Degutienė | Lithuania | Acting Prime Minister | 27 October 1999 | 3 November 1999 | 7 days | Head of government | ||
| Helen Clark | New Zealand | Prime Minister | 10 December 1999 | 19 November 2008 | 8 years, 350 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Tarja Halonen |  Finland | President | 1 March 2000 | 1 March 2012 | 12 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Gloria Macapagal Arroyo |  Philippines | President | 20 January 2001 | 30 June 2010 | 9 years, 161 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Mame Madior Boye |  Senegal | Prime Minister | 3 March 2001 | 4 November 2002 | 1 year, 246 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Megawati Sukarnoputri |  Indonesia | President | 23 July 2001 | 20 October 2004 | 3 years, 89 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Khaleda Zia | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 1 October 2001 | 29 October 2006 | 5 years, 28 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maria das Neves |  São Tomé and Príncipe | Prime Minister | 3 October 2002 | 18 September 2004 | 1 year, 351 days | Head of government | ||
| Anneli Jäätteenmäki | Finland | Prime Minister | 17 April 2003 | 24 June 2003 | 68 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Nino Burjanadze |  Georgia | Acting President | 23 November 2003 | 25 January 2004 | 63 days | Head of state | ||
| Barbara Prammer |  Austria | Co-Acting President | 6 July 2004 | 8 July 2004 | 2 days | Head of state | ||
| Radmila Šekerinska |  Republic of Macedonia | Acting Prime Minister | 12 May 2004 | 12 June 2004 | 31 days | Head of government | ||
| 3 November 2004 | 15 December 2004 | 42 days | ||||||
| Yulia Tymoshenko |  Ukraine | Prime Minister | 24 January 2005 | 6 September 2005 | 225 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maria do Carmo Silveira | São Tomé and Príncipe | Prime Minister | 8 June 2005 | 21 April 2006 | 317 days | Head of government | ||
| Angela Merkel |  Germany | Chancellor | 22 November 2005 | Incumbent | 15 years, 328 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | Liberia | President | 16 January 2006 | 22 January 2018 | 12 years, 6 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Michelle Bachelet |  Chile | President | 11 March 2006 | 11 March 2010 | 4 years, 0 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Portia Simpson-Miller |  Jamaica | Prime Minister | 30 March 2006 | 11 September 2007 | 1 year, 165 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Dalia Itzik | Israel | Acting President | 25 January 2007 | 15 July 2007 | 171 days | Head of state | ||
| Pratibha Patil | India | President | 25 July 2007 | 25 July 2012 | 5 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Nino Burjanadze |  Georgia | Acting President | 25 November 2007 | 20 January 2008 | 56 days | Head of state | ||
| Cristina Fernández de Kirchner | Argentina | President | 10 December 2007 | 10 December 2015 | 8 years, 0 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Yulia Tymoshenko | Ukraine | Prime Minister | 18 December 2007 | 3 March 2010 | 2 years, 75 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Zinaida Greceanîi |  Moldova | Prime Minister | 31 March 2008 | 14 September 2009 | 1 year, 167 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Michèle Pierre-Louis | Haiti | Prime Minister | 5 September 2008 | 11 November 2009 | 1 year, 67 days | Head of government | ||
| Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri |  South Africa | Acting President | 25 September 2008 | 14 hours[5][6] | Head of state and government | |||
| Sheikh Hasina | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 6 January 2009 | Incumbent | 12 years, 283 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir | Iceland | Prime Minister | 1 February 2009 | 23 May 2013 | 4 years, 111 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Rose Francine Rogombé |  Gabon | Acting President | 10 June 2009 | 16 October 2009 | 128 days | Head of state | ||
| Jadranka Kosor |  Croatia | Prime Minister | 6 July 2009 | 23 December 2011 | 2 years, 170 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Dalia Grybauskaitė |  Lithuania | President | 12 July 2009 | 12 July 2019 | 10 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Cécile Manorohanta |  Madagascar | Acting Prime Minister | 18 December 2009 | 20 December 2009 | 2 days | Head of government | ||
| Roza Otunbayeva |  Kyrgyzstan | President | 7 April 2010 | 1 December 2011 | 1 year, 238 days | Head of state | ||
| Laura Chinchilla |  Costa Rica | President | 8 May 2010 | 8 May 2014 | 4 years, 0 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Kamla Persad-Bissessar |  Trinidad and Tobago | Prime Minister | 26 May 2010 | 9 September 2015 | 5 years, 106 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Mari Kiviniemi | Finland | Prime Minister | 22 June 2010 | 22 June 2011 | 1 year, 0 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Julia Gillard |  Australia | Prime Minister | 24 June 2010 | 27 June 2013 | 3 years, 3 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Iveta Radičová |  Slovakia | Prime Minister | 8 July 2010 | 4 April 2012 | 1 year, 271 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Dilma Rousseff |  Brazil | President | 1 January 2011 | 31 August 2016 Suspended 12 May 2016 | 5 years, 243 days 5 years, 132 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé |  Mali | Prime Minister | 3 April 2011 | 22 March 2012 | 354 days | Head of government | ||
| Atifete Jahjaga |  Kosovo | President | 7 April 2011 | 7 April 2016 | 5 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Yingluck Shinawatra |  Thailand | Prime Minister | 3 July 2011 | 7 May 2014 | 2 years, 308 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Helle Thorning-Schmidt |  Denmark | Prime Minister | 3 October 2011 | 28 June 2015 | 3 years, 268 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Portia Simpson-Miller | Jamaica | Prime Minister | 5 January 2012 | 3 March 2016 | 4 years, 58 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Adiato Djaló Nandigna | Guinea-Bissau | Acting Prime Minister | 10 February 2012 | 12 April 2012 | 62 days | Head of government | ||
| Monique Ohsan Bellepeau |  Mauritius | Acting President | 31 March 2012 | 21 July 2012 | 112 days | Head of state | ||
| Slavica Đukić Dejanović |  Serbia | Acting President | 5 April 2012 | 31 May 2012 | 56 days | Head of state | ||
| Joyce Banda |  Malawi | President | 7 April 2012 | 31 May 2014 | 2 years, 54 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Park Geun-hye |  South Korea | President | 25 February 2013 | 10 March 2017 Suspended 9 December 2016 | 4 years, 13 days 3 years, 288 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Alenka Bratušek |  Slovenia | Prime Minister | 20 March 2013 | 18 September 2014 | 1 year, 182 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sibel Siber |  Northern Cyprus | Prime Minister | 13 June 2013 | 2 September 2013 | 81 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Tatiana Turanskaya |  Transnistria | Prime Minister | 10 June 2013 | 13 October 2015 | 2 years, 125 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Aminata Touré | Senegal | Prime Minister | 1 September 2013 | 8 July 2014 | 310 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Erna Solberg | Norway | Prime Minister | 16 October 2013 | 14 October 2021 | 7 years, 363 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Laimdota Straujuma | Latvia | Prime Minister | 22 January 2014 | 11 February 2016 | 2 years, 20 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Catherine Samba-Panza | Central African Republic | Acting President | 23 January 2014 | 30 March 2016 | 2 years, 67 days | Head of state | ||
| Michelle Bachelet | Chile | President | 11 March 2014 | 11 March 2018 | 4 years, 0 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca | Malta | President | 4 April 2014 | 4 April 2019 | 5 years, 0 days | Head of state | ||
| Ewa Kopacz | Poland | Prime Minister | 22 September 2014 | 16 November 2015 | 1 year, 55 days | Head of government | ||
| Florence Duperval Guillaume | Haiti | Acting Prime Minister | 20 December 2014 | 16 January 2015 | 27 days | Head of government | ||
| Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović | Croatia | President | 19 February 2015 | 18 February 2020 | 4 years, 364 days | Head of state | ||
| Monique Ohsan Bellepeau | Mauritius | Acting President | 29 May 2015 | 5 June 2015 | 7 days | Head of state | ||
| Ameenah Gurib-Fakim | Mauritius | President | 5 June 2015 | 23 March 2018 | 2 years, 291 days | Head of state | ||
| Natalia Gherman | Moldova | Acting Prime Minister | 22 June 2015 | 30 July 2015 | 38 days | Head of government | ||
| Vassiliki Thanou |  Greece | Acting Prime Minister | 27 August 2015 | 21 September 2015 | 25 days | Head of government | ||
| Maya Parnas | Transnistria | Acting Prime Minister | 13 October 2015 | 30 November 2015 | 48 days | Head of government | ||
| Bidhya Devi Bhandari |  Nepal | President | 29 October 2015 | Incumbent | 5 years, 352 days | Head of state | ||
| Beata Szydło | Poland | Prime Minister | 16 November 2015 | 11 December 2017 | 2 years, 25 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Tatiana Turanskaya | Transnistria | Prime Minister | 30 November 2015 | 2 December 2015 | 2 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maya Parnas | Transnistria | Acting Prime Minister | 2 December 2015 | 23 December 2015 | 21 days | Head of government | ||
| Hilda Heine |  Marshall Islands | President | 28 January 2016 | 14 January 2020 | 3 years, 351 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Aung San Suu Kyi |  Myanmar | State Counsellor | 6 April 2016 | 1 February 2021 | 4 years, 301 days | De facto head of government | ||
| Tsai Ing-wen |  Republic of China (Taiwan) | President | 20 May 2016 | Incumbent | 5 years, 149 days | Head of state | Executive | |
| Doris Bures | Austria | Co-Acting President | 8 July 2016 | 26 January 2017 | 202 days | Head of state | ||
| Theresa May | United Kingdom | Prime Minister | 13 July 2016 | 24 July 2019 | 3 years, 11 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Kersti Kaljulaid |  Estonia | President | 10 October 2016 | 11 October 2021 | 5 years, 1 day | Head of state | ||
| Ana Brnabić | Serbia | Prime Minister | 29 June 2017 | Incumbent | 4 years, 109 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Halimah Yacob |  Singapore | President | 14 September 2017 | Incumbent | 4 years, 32 days | Head of state | ||
| Jacinda Ardern | New Zealand | Prime Minister | 26 October 2017 | Incumbent | 3 years, 355 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Katrín Jakobsdóttir | Iceland | Prime Minister | 30 November 2017 | Incumbent | 3 years, 320 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Viorica Dăncilă |  Romania | Prime Minister | 29 January 2018 | 4 November 2019 | 1 year, 279 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Paula-Mae Weekes | Trinidad and Tobago | President | 19 March 2018 | Incumbent | 3 years, 211 days | Head of state | ||
| Mia Mottley |  Barbados | Prime Minister | 25 May 2018 | Incumbent | 3 years, 144 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh |  Vietnam | Acting President | 21 September 2018 | 23 October 2018 | 32 days | Head of state | ||
| Sahle-Work Zewde |  Ethiopia | President | 25 October 2018 | Incumbent | 2 years, 356 days | Head of state | ||
| Salome Zurabishvili | Georgia | President | 16 December 2018 | Incumbent | 2 years, 304 days | Head of state | ||
| Brigitte Bierlein | Austria | Chancellor (Interim) | 3 June 2019 | 7 January 2020 | 218 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maia Sandu | Moldova | Prime Minister | 8 June 2019 | 14 November 2019 | 159 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Zuzana Čaputová | Slovakia | President | 15 June 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 123 days | Head of state | ||
| Mette Frederiksen | Denmark | Prime Minister | 27 June 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 111 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Sophie Wilmès |  Belgium | Prime Minister | 27 October 2019 | 1 October 2020 | 340 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Jeanine Áñez | Bolivia | President (Interim) | 12 November 2019 | 8 November 2020 | 362 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Sanna Marin | Finland | Prime Minister | 10 December 2019 | Incumbent | 1 year, 310 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Katerina Sakellaropoulou | Greece | President | 13 March 2020 | Incumbent | 1 year, 217 days | Head of state | ||
| Rose Christiane Raponda | Gabon | Prime Minister | 16 July 2020 | Incumbent | 1 year, 92 days | Head of government | Executive[h] | |
| Victoire Tomegah Dogbé |  Togo | Prime Minister | 28 September 2020 | Incumbent | 1 year, 18 days | Head of government | Executive[i] | |
| Vjosa Osmani | Kosovo | Acting President | 5 November 2020 | 22 March 2021 | 137 days | Head of state | ||
| Ingrida Šimonytė | Lithuania | Prime Minister | 25 November 2020 | Incumbent | 325 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maia Sandu | Moldova | President | 24 December 2020 | Incumbent | 296 days | Head of state | ||
| Kaja Kallas | Estonia | Prime Minister | 26 January 2021 | Incumbent | 263 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Maya Tskitishvili | Georgia | Acting Prime Minister | 14 February 2021 | 18 February 2021 | 4 days | Head of government | ||
| Samia Suluhu Hassan |  Tanzania | President | 19 March 2021 | Incumbent | 211 days | Head of state and government | Executive | |
| Vjosa Osmani | Kosovo | President | 4 April 2021 | Incumbent | 195 days | Head of state | ||
| Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa |  Samoa | Prime Minister | 24 May 2021 | Incumbent | 145 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Natalia Gavrilița | Moldova | Prime Minister | 6 August 2021 | Incumbent | 71 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Najla Bouden |  Tunisia | Prime Minister | 11 October 2021 | Incumbent | 4 days | Head of government | Executive | |
| Dame Sandra Mason | Barbados | President | 30 November 2021 | Designate | Head of state |