POLITICAL

SCIENCE

PROJECT
 GROUP MEMBERS
ACC ORD ING TO RO LL NO. ORD ER

 PRERNA KAUR -13

 URVI GOGRI -18

 RAHUL JETHANI -22

WOMEN IN POLITICS
 Beginning in the mid-1960s, women have entered
politics in greater numbers and few women have
been elected.

 With democracy and multiple-party governments

has given women the opportunity to run for
elected office.

 In 1980, women held fewer than 10% of

parliamentary seats in advanced democracies of
Europe and U.S.
 By 2005, seats increased to 15% and now seats
held by women reach over 20% in many
countries.
– 36% of Cuba’s parliamentary seat are held
by women,
– Costa Rica has 35.1 percent,
– Argentina has 34% in the lower house and
33% in the upper house.
– The United States has 15% in the lower
house and 14% in the senate
– Niger 12%
– Ethiopia 8%
– Chad 6%
 FIRST WOMAN

PRIME MINISTER

IN WORLD HISTORY!
 Siri mav o Ban da ran aike
(1916-2000)

PRI ME M INISTE R OF SRI LAN KA

PRIME MINISTER OF SRI LANKA 3
TIMES:
FROM 21 JUL 1960 TO 27 MAR 1965
FROM 29 MAY 1970 TO 23 JUL 1977
FROM 14 NOV 1994 TO 10 AUG 2000
 The oldest female political leader in active by the
time of her demise.
 Widow of Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister in
1956 and assassinated in office in 1959.
 She received her third government mandate from
her own daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, who
was to be sworn in as president by then
 This was the first time in history that a woman
succeeded another woman by elections.
INDIRA PRIYADARŚINI GANDHI
 Prime minister of India twice,
From 19 Jan 1966 to 24 Mar 1977
&
From 14 Jan 1980 to her assassination on
31 Oct 1984.
 One of the most famous women in 20th century
politics.
 Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's
first prime minister (1947-64), and Indira spent her
life amid Indian politics.
 In 1959 she was elected to the presidency of the
Indian National Congress, and in 1964 she was elected
to the parliament.
 When Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in
1966, Gandhi was chosen as a compromise candidate
to replace him.
 She was elected to the office in 1967 and advanced an
ambitious program of modernization.
 In 1975 she was convicted of violations stemming
from the 1971 election and the High Court
ordered her to resign.
 Instead she declared a state of emergency and
clamped down on her opposition (the conviction
was later overturned).
 She lost the election of 1977 and was out of office
until a comeback in 1980, when she was again
elected to be prime minister.
 In 1984 she used the military to suppress Sikh
rebels and ordered an attack on a Sikh shrine in
Amritsar; a few months later, Gandhi was
assassinated by Sikh conspirators
 Her younger son and political heir, Sanjay, had passed
away in plane crash in 1980, so elder Rajiv assumed
the leadership of the Congress Party and,
automatically, the premiership.
 In 1991 Rajiv, two years after leaving the
Government, was assassinated as well.
 Recently, a BBC poll named Indira Gandhi, the
greatest woman of the last 1,000 years
 Currently the widow of Rajiv and daughter-in-law of
Indira, Sonia Gandhi, leads the Congress party.
 SONIA GANDHI

The President of the Indian National Congress

 Born Sonia Antonia Maino on December 9,
1946, is an Italian-born Indian politician.
 She was the Chairperson of the ruling United
Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha, until
she resigned on the 23rd of March 2006.
 Sonia led the Congress Party to victory over the
ruling BJP.
 She was named the third most powerful
woman in the world by Forbes magazine in
the year 2004 and currently ranks 13th.
 Sonia's victory was aided by anti-incumbency
sentiments as well as the large-scale disenchantment
of millions of people belonging to the lower classes,
who have been mostly left behind in the economic
reforms exercise of the BJP.
 Sonia's rapid rise in the political arena highlights
interesting aspect of Indian politics - In a country,
where Hindus account for a majority of the
population, Indian voters have not hesitated to
embrace a Roman Catholic Videshi.
 MARGARET THATCHER

PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

•Prime minister of the United
Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28
Nov 1990.

• The only woman to have

served as Prime Minister
• First woman elected ruler in
Europe.

•Thatcher was the longest-

serving British Prime Minister
since Lord Salisbury
 The longest continuous period in office since
Lord Liverpool in the early nineteenth century.
 One of only two women to have led a major
political party in the UK.
 One of only two to have held any of the four
great offices of state.
 The most significant British politician in recent
political history.
 She is also one of the most divisive, being loved
and loathed on different sides of the political
spectrum.
 BENAZIR BHUTTO

PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN

 Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
 The eldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was born
on June 21, 1953, at Karachi.
 In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at
Harvard University's Radcliffe College.
 In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard
University with a degree in Political Science.
After graduating from Harva rd , Benazir joined
Ox ford University in the fall of 1973.
 At the age of 35, she was the youngest and the
first woman Prime Minister to lead a Muslim
nation in modern age.
 During her first term, she started Peoples
Program for economic uplift of the masses.
Benazir Bhutto also lifted a ban on student and
trade unions.
 The P. P. P. Government hosted the fourth
S. A. A. R. C. Summit held in Islamabad, in
December 1988.
CH AN DRIKA KUM AR AT UN GA

PRES IDEN T OF SRI LAN KA

•Both her parents were prime ministers of
Sri Lanka
•At the time of her election she said that
politics was in her blood
•She was almost killed herself in an attack
by a suspected rebel Tamil Tiger bomber
on the last day of campaigning in the 2000
presidential elections.
•She came to power after pledging to end
the war, but several rounds of peace talks
came to nothing. Kumaratunga declared a
st at e of eme rg ency after the foreign
minister was assassinated in August this
year.
•The government was already severely
tested by the Asian tsunami, which killed
more than 30,000 Sri Lankans.
Beg um Kh aled a Zia

PRIME MINISTER OF BANGLADESH

 As the first women to become Prime Minister of
Bangladesh, the most powerful political position in the
country, Zia.
 Zia made history when she became Prime Minister in
1991, serving until 1996.
 She was elected once again in 2001.
 As the widow of assassinated prime minister Ziaur
Rahman, one of the prominent heroes of Bangladesh's
liberation war, Zia also leads her deceased husband's old
party, the Bangladesh National Party.
 Once a shy and withdrawn housewife, Zia has
revitalized the education sector, particularly for young
girls.
 ANGELA MERKEL

FEDERAL CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY

 "Germany's Iron Lady"

 The first woman to rule Germany since Maria Theresa of

the Hapsburgs remains more like the brainy academic
she trained to be, despite the makeover by her minders
who spruced up her dowdy appearance.
 She entered politics after being inspired by the pro-
democracy movement in eastern Europe, and became
Helmut Kohl's youngest minister.
 After becoming the CDU's candidate for chancellor in the
2005 elections, she saw her lead vanish as the election
neared.
 Her electoral performance was blamed on an economic
policy fiasco, and the chances of survival of her "grand
coalition" look slim.
 CO ND OLEEZZ A R IC E

SECRET AR Y OF STATE UNITED STA TES OF AM ERICA

•The 66th United States
Secretary of State, and the
second in the administration of
President George W. Bush to
hold the office.
•The first African American
woman, second African
American and second woman
(after Madeleine Albright) to
serve as Secretary of State.
•Was Bush's National Security
Advisor during his first term
(2001–2005).
• Before joining the Bush
administration, she was a Professor of
political science at Stanford University
 In 2004 and 2005, she was ranked as
the most powerful woman in the world
by Forbes magazine and number two
in 2006. She is also one of only two
African Americans to have been
repeatedly ranked among the world's
100 most influential people by Times
magazine.
 Hilla ry Rod ham C li nton

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NEW YORK

 Is the Junior United States Senator from New York.
 She is married to Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of
the United States, and was the First Lady of the
United States from 1993 to 2001.
 She is a member of the Democratic Party.
 Clinton was elected to the United States Senate in
2000
 On January 20, 2007, Clinton announced the
formation of a presidential exploratory committee
for the United States presidential election of 2008.
WOMEN… M ORE E FFE CTI VE

L EA DER S FO R TO DAY 'S

WO RLD!
MAK ING HE AD WAY …

TO A BETT ER WO RLD