Beatriz Merino

Martha Beatriz Merino Lucero served as prime minister of Peru in 2003, the country's first female prime minister and the first female prime minister in Latin America.

Merino was born on Nov. 15, 1947, in Peru. She graduated with a degree in economics in London and received her master’s degree at Harvard.

From 1990 to 1992, Merino served in Peru's Senate, and from 1995 to 2000, she served as congresswoman. Merino served as the director of the Women’s Leadership Programme, now known as the Gender Equality in Development Unit, at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers.

Photo by Búfalo Barreto