The full history of women's leadership hasn't been told

I'd always thought of myself as a feminist, well-versed in women's history. But I discovered my knowledge of it was more limited than I realized when I met Laura Liswood in 2015.

As secretary general of the Council of Women World Leaders, Liswood has convened elected female presidents and prime ministers for the United Nations for the past 20 years. Very intrigued, I asked her how many female presidents and prime ministers there had been throughout the world.

 

I could only count a few on one hand: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and pioneering women leaders who made headlines when I was a kid, such as Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. I guessed 15.

It turns out that as of 2015, there were more than 50 living women who had served or were currently serving as presidents or prime ministers throughout the world. Today, there are 70. Were other women and men as in the dark as me? I asked dozens of people -- professionals, academics and leaders of women's organizations -- and quickly discovered I was not alone. Most people estimated there had been five or six female leaders.
 

 

Source: Edition.Cnn