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FACTBOX - Taiwan's Tsai joins small band of women world leaders

by Thomson Reuters Foundation | @emmabatha | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Saturday, 16 January 2016 15:45 GMT

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen greets a supporter at a campaign rally ahead of the election in Taichung, Taiwan, January 15, 2016. REUTERS/Olivia Harris

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Taiwan elects its first woman president. Which other countries have women at the helm?

LONDON, Jan 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taiwan elected the first female president in the Chinese-speaking world on Saturday when voters handed opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen a convincing victory.

Below is a list of countries which have women as heads of government or state. The date in brackets is the year they took office. (The list excludes figurehead monarchs.)

  • BANGLADESH: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (2009)
  • BRAZIL: President Dilma Rousseff (2011)
  • CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza (2014)
  • CHILE: President Michelle Bachelet (2014)
  • CROATIA: President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (2015)
  • GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005)
  • JAMAICA: Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller (2012)
  • KOSOVO: President Atifete Jahjaga (2011)
  • LIBERIA: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2006)
  • LITHUANIA: President Dalia Grybauskaite (2009)
  • MALTA: President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca (2014)
  • MAURITIUS: President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (2015)
  • NAMIBIA: Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila (2015)
  • NEPAL: President Bidhya Devi Bhandari (2015)
  • NORWAY: Prime Minister Erna Solberg (2013)
  • POLAND: Prime Minister Beata Szydlo (2015)
  • SOUTH KOREA: President Park Geun-hye (2013)

(Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption, climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

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