All Rise for This Quiz on Female World Leaders

In June 1993, after current Prime Minister Brian Mulroney retired, the reigning Progressive Conservative Party chose Kim Campbell to replace him, which made her Canada's first — and so far only — female prime minister. Her term ended 132 days later in November when she lost the general election. Campbell was also the first woman to serve as a Canadian minister of justice and to be a minister of defense for a NATO country.

Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of the most impactful First Ladies in history, thanks in large part to her commitment to human rights. Her famous speech “The Struggle for Human Rights” was a major impetus for the U.N. to pass the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December of 1948. She also served on the board of human rights organizations such as the NAACP.

Most Americans can name a few of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Some stand out more than others, such as John Hancock, who is remembered for the extravagant flourish of his penmanship. Look closely, however, and you will find a woman's name on the document. While she didn't sign it, Mary Katharine Goddard did publish it. Congress approached the Baltimore postmaster to print the second copy of the Declaration in 1777. To ensure her name would go down in history, she added, “Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard" at the bottom of the document.

In 2003, Rwanda’s constitution mandated that women must hold 30% of parliamentary seats. This is a big jump from the ‘90s when women averaged only 18%. The mandate must have worked, because in 2008, Rwanda became the first country to have a legislative majority of women. And in 2013, women made up nearly two-thirds of Parliament.

Margaret Chase Smith was elected to the House in 1940 and Senate in 1948. In 1950, she made headlines when she became the first member of the Senate to denounce fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist witch hunts. She represented Maine for 32 years, and in 1964, became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for President at a major party convention.

In 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became head of state of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), a year after her prime minister husband’s assassination. She served until 1965, and then again from 1970 to 1977 and 1994 to 2000. Bandaranaike established a state-run system in which many Sri Lankan businesses were nationalized. Her daughter, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, became the country’s first female president.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. In 2011, she and two other female activists were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward women’s rights. As president, Sirleaf worked to heal ethnic conflict following Liberia’s civil war, secured millions in foreign investment, championed democracy, and managed the 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak.

During the 1984 presidential campaign, the Democratic Party pushed for a woman to run as Vice President with presidential nominee Walter Frederick Mondale. The incumbent, President Ronald Reagan, would go on to win the election, but Geraldine Ferraro still inspired people around the country during her campaign.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its current monarch. In most constitutional monarchies, the sovereign (in the U.K., the queen) is head of state, while the ability to make and pass actual legislation resides with an elected Parliament. In the specific case of Queen Elizabeth II, she is also the monarch of all of the countries in the Commonwealth Realm, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Jamaica, among others, though the role is mostly symbolic.

Cleopatra VII was a descendant of Alexander the Great’s former general Ptolemy I, who became Egypt’s pharaoh. She served as co-regent of Egypt with several male family members, and was a well-educated, skillful diplomat and ruler. Cleopatra strengthened her rule through foreign alliances (and romances) but fell from power during the fight for control of the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar’s death.

From 1986 to 1992, Corazon Aquino served as the first female president of the Philippines. Winning a contested election against Ferdinand Marcos, Aquino was tasked with reintroducing a proper democracy to the Philippines, which eventually earned her the nickname "The Mother of Democracy." Aquino's son, Benigno Aquino III, was elected to the presidency in 2010, just one year after her death.

Golda Meir was born in Kiev in 1898 and emigrated to Wisconsin as a child. In the 1920s, she moved to then-British controlled Palestine, where she helped establish the state of Israel in 1948 and became its first female prime minister in 1969. Despite efforts at improving relations with Arab nations, Meir’s time in power was shortened by the outbreak of the 1974 Yom Kippur War with Egypt and Syria.

The daughter of a prominent Pakistani family, Benazir Bhutto became head of her father’s political party after his assassination in 1979. In 1988, she became the first female prime minister of a Muslim nation. Bhutto stepped down during her second term (1993 to 1996) amid corruption charges. She lived in England for eight years before returning to Pakistan to run for office again. Bhutto was assassinated at a campaign rally in 2007.

Patsy Mink, a Japanese American woman from Hawaii, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964. She was the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress. For the four years she served, Mink advocated for the rights of immigrants and minorities, and played a significant role in passing Title IX legislation, preventing gender-based discrimination in education.

Before helping found the National Women’s Political Caucus, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968. The caucus works to increase women’s participation in political and public life. As a congresswoman, Chisholm championed gender and racial equality through legislation and became an icon of the women’s liberation movement.

When Peter III took the Russian throne in 1762, one of his first acts was to end the country's war with Prussia. That angered Russia's military class and they began to look to his wife, Catherine, to replace him. Six months into his reign, Peter abdicated and Catherine became empress, a title she held for 34 years.

After a poor upbringing, Eva Perón built a successful acting and producing career. She married Juan Perón a year before he became president of Argentina in 1946. Her work as a champion for Argentinian women and the poor made her a beloved figure, endearingly called “Evita.” She played a key role in her husband’s government and received a state funeral when she died from cancer in 1952 at age 33.

The daughter of a Czech diplomat, Madeleine Albright moved to the United States as a child. She served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and in 1997, President Bill Clinton named her America’s first female secretary of state. As America’s top diplomat, Albright helped end a bloody conflict in Kosovo, and led Western efforts to curtail the growth of North Korea’s nuclear program.

The daughter of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi became India’s first female prime minister in 1966. She initiated popular agricultural reforms early in her first three terms but stepped down in 1977 amid controversy over corruption and authoritarian crackdowns on civil liberties. Gandhi was reelected in 1980 but was assassinated in 1984 amid tensions with Sikh separatists.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister. The only 20th-century British prime minister to win three consecutive terms, Thatcher was a transformative but controversial figure who oversaw Britain’s victory over Argentina in the Falklands War and championed anti-communism. In 1990, the “Iron Lady” stepped down due to internal party divisions.