Category: International Leader / page 6

Geun-hye Park
Geun-hye Park


Park Geun-hye served as the president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, the first woman president of that country. On Dec. 9, 2016, Park stepped back from her duties following a vote by parliament to impeach her over a corruption scandal. The impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court on March 10, 2017. Park was born February 2, 1952 in Samdeok-dong of Jung-gu, Daegu. Her father was Park Chung-hee, the third president of South Korea who served from 1961 to 1979. She received a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering […]
Pratibha D Patil
Pratibha D Patil


Pratibha Patil served as president of India from 2007 to 2012, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her election as president, Patil served as the governor of Rajasthan from 2004 to 2007, the first woman to hold this office as well. Patil was born on December 19, 1934, in Nadgaon village of Jalgaon District, Maharashtra. She received her early education from RR Vidyalaya, Jalgaon and earned her master's degree in political science and economics from the Mooljee Jetha College, Jalgaon. Later, she obtained the degree of Bachelor […]
Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen


Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen is a member of the French National Assembly and was the president of the National Front (FN), a far-right political party in France. Le Pen was born August 5, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Her father is Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party, and her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, was a member of Parliament from 2012 to 2017. Le Pen received a Master of Laws in 1991 and a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) in criminal law in 1992, both from Panthéon-Assas University. […]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Kamla Persad-Bissessar


Kamla Persad-Bissessar has served as the political leader of the United National Congress of Trinidad and Tobago since January 2010 and as the leader of the opposition since September 2015. Persad-Bissessar previously served as prime minister and as attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago. She is the first woman to serve as attorney general, acting prime minister and leader of the opposition in that country. Persad-Bissessar was born on April 4, 1952, in Siparia. She attended Norwood Technical College and later, the University of the West Indies (UWI) where she […]
Diana Princess of Wales
Diana Princess of Wales


Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, son of Queen Elizabeth II and heir to the British throne. Diana was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, to John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, and Frances Shand Kydd. In 1975, she became Lady Diana Spencer when her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer. She married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981. They divorced in 1996. As Princess of Wales, Diana supported a number of charitable causes, including leprosy, HIV/AIDS, landmines, homelessness, cancer, and […]
Iveta Radicova
Iveta Radicova


Iveta Radicová served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2010 to 2012, the country's first female prime minister. Prior to becoming prime minister, Radicová was a professor of sociology and was Slovakia's first female professor of sociology. Radicová was born December 7, 1956, in Bratislava, Slovakia. She studied sociology at Comenius University and earned her Ph.D.; she also studied at the University of Oxford. Upon her return to Slovakia in 1991, Radicová founded the Center for Analysis of Social Policy, one of Slovakia's first non-government organizations, and served as its […]
Queen Rania of Jordan
Queen Rania of Jordan


Rania Al Abdullah is the Queen consort of Jordan and an international advocate for education, health, community empowerment, youth, cross-cultural dialogue and micro-finance. Queen Rania was born August 31, 1970, in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. She obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration from the American University of Cairo in 1991, then worked briefly in marketing for Citibank and Apple Inc. On June 10, 1991, she married Prince Abdullah bin Al Hussein of Jordan, who assumed power as king on February 7, 1999. Sources: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2009, […]
Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson


Mary Robinson served as the first woman president of Ireland from 1990 to 1997. She was also the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, serving from 1997 to 2002. Prior to holding office, Robinson served as a senator from 1969 to 1989. Robinson was born on May 21, 1944, in Ballina, County Mayo. She is a barrister by profession and was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity College Dublin when she was 25 years old. With her husband, Nicholas, whom she married in 1970, she founded the […]
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Rousseff


Dilma Vana Rousseff served as the president of Brazil from January 1, 2011 to August, 31, 2016. She was the first woman to hold that office. Rousseff was born on December 14, 1947, in Belo Horizonte, the state capital of Minas Gerais. She received her primary education at the traditional Nossa Senhora de Sion School and her secondary education at the State Central High School in Belo Horizonte, then a hub of student activism. At the age of 16, she began her political career, taking part in movements against the […]
Jennifer Shipley
Jennifer M Shipley


Jennifer "Jenny" Shipley served as New Zealand's first woman prime minister from December 8, 1997, to December 5, 1999, assuming the position after staging a carefully planned coup against Jim Bolger. Shipley was born on February 4, 1952, in Gore, New Zealand. She graduated from Christchurch Teachers' College in 1972 and taught primary school. She joined the National Party in 1975 and, in 1987, she was elected to parliament. From 1990 to 1993, she served as minister of social welfare and, from 1990 to 1996, she served as minister of […]