Many amazing women have been rulers and leaders throughout the world. Sometimes these women were recorded in history, and sometimes efforts were made to erase them from history. This section provides just a sampling of many women rulers and leaders from both the past and present who have made history. Don't forget to scroll down.
Hatshepsut was one of the few, and arguably most successful, female pharaohs in Egypt's history. She was a politically savvy woman who knew that she could rule Egypt better than her nephew. So, she bribed the priests to name her pharaoh. Under her leadership, she was able to usher in one of the longest periods of peace and prosperity that Egypt had ever known. In order to preserve the image of pharoah, she wore the beard and even had men dressed as women in her hareem. Upon her death, her jealous nephew tried to erase all traces of her, and he almost succeeded until British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed her tomb in 1902. Once opened, her story changed what historians thought they knew about Egyptian history.
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Hatshepsut: The Egyptian Who Proved Women Could be Powerful Pharaohs - National Geographic Kids
Hatshepsut - Brooklyn Museum
"The Queen Who Would Be King: A Scheming Stepmother or a Strong and Effective Ruler? History’s View of the Pharaoh Hatshepsut Changed over Time" - Smithsonian Magazine
Benazir Bhutto made history when she became the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a country that had a Muslim-majority. She served as both the 11th (1988-1990) and 13th prime minister (1993-1996) of Pakistan. She followed in the footsteps of her father, Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, although he was unfortunately overthrown when she was abroad pursuing higher education in the United States and Great Britain. When she returned to Pakistan, she was placed under house arrest, and a year later, her father was accused of treason and hung. Before he died, passing over his eldest son, he handed the mantle of leadership to Bhutto, and she became the head of the political party that he founded, the Pakistan People's Party. Only three months after giving birth to her first child, she made history with her election as Prime Minister. While in office, she eradicated polio and championed the rights of women, while also fighting the traditionally minded male political elite and a nervous military. She also had to deal with her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, a notorious playboy who liked to spend money. Her time in office was marred with allegations of misconduct, most likely due to perceptions surrounding Zadari's actions and activities, and she lost her bid for a second term. She, however, successfully fought the allegations and managed to win a second election, but, again, she was plagued by charges of misconduct and lost a third term. So, Bhutto decided to exile herself to Dubai and Great Britain, and in absentia, she was convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years in prison, which she never served, although Zadari did spend eight years in prison even though he was never convicted of a crime. From her place in exile, she continued to direct her political party. Finally, President Musharraf granted her amnesty on all corruption charges, and she began a third bid for Prime Minister in 2007. When Bhutto returned to Pakistan, a suicide bomber tried to assassinate her, and more than 140 people were killed, but she reportedly survived by ducking down behind her armored vehicle when the blast hit. Although that bomber did not succeed, only a few months later, one did. After a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, an assassin fired shots and then blew himself up. He not only killed Bhutto but also 28 other people. Her assassination has led to many conspiracy theories, but she will remain an important historical figure.
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Benazir Bhutto - History.com
Bhutto - PBS
Toypurina was a Tongva woman who was born and lived in Japchivit, a village located in what is now called San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. When she was 11, Spanish Franciscan missionaries began to set up a mission and go about trying to convert the indigenous people. Not only did these missionaries bring foreign ideas, but they also brought new diseases for which the indigenous population had no immunity. Toypurina saw the Franciscans' presence as destructive to her people's way of life and decided to participate in a rebellion against the Spaniards. That rebellion began when Nicholás José, a Gabrielino who lived at the San Gabriel mission and who had lost his wife and children to European diseases, got fed up. He, along with Toypurina and her brother, created a coalition of eight Tongva villages and planned to attack the mission. Unfortunately for them, they had a turncoat in their midst, and they were caught before they could enact their plan. Toypurina was held as a prisoner for two years while the governor waited upon the government to make a decision about her. While in prison, Toypurina agreed to be baptized, but no one knows for sure if this decision was as a means of protection or if she had converted to Christianity. After being released from prison, Toypurina married a Spaniard and had three children, but she died young at 39 years of age.
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Life Story: Toypurina (1760–1799) - Women & The American Story
Rebel Tongva Warrior - Gold Chains: The Hidden Story of Slavery in California (ACLU)
Toypurina: A Legend Etched in the Landscape of Los Angeles - PBS SoCal
Ellen-Sirleaf, who is sometimes known as “Africa’s Iron Lady,” made history when she became the first democratically-elected woman head of state in a modern African country in 2005 after Liberia's particularly bloody and brutal civil war. Under her leadership, Sirleaf was able to promote reconciliation, freedom, peace, equality for women, and economic stability. Her efforts and impressive reforms in Liberia lead to many accolades, and she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011. In addition, she has been awarded the US's Presidential Medal of Freedom, France's Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur, and many other honors. She was also named as one of Forbes's "100 Most Powerful Women in the World." Her continuing commitment to peace and freedom continued when, in May 2012, she was appointed co-chair of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Her career in public service, though, began in the Treasury Department in1965. Committed to curtailing the mismanagement of government finances, she accepted the position of Minister of Finance in 1979. After the 1980 military coup d’état, she became president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment, but ended up having to leave Liberia that same year due to particularly brutal suppressive practices under the military regime. She returned, though, to help usher her country into a new era of peace, and she has often been listed in various publications as one of the best leaders in the modern world.
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: First Female President of Liberia & Nobel Peace Laureate - United Nations biography
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: President of Liberia (2006-2018) - Council of Women World Leaders
Lady Yohl Ik’ nal was the first recorded female ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque, and historians believe that she was also the first to have a full royal title. She began as the queen regent, but unlike in similar such situations, her son did not take over when he came of age. Instead, she ruled for twenty-one years. She was either the daughter or sister of the previous ruler, and although rulership generally passed to the next male in line, there may have been an internal battle within the royal family, resulting in the queen regent coming out on top. During her reign, Palenque was invaded twice and suffered defeat both times, but despite these events, Yohl Ik'nal held her country together. According to existing records, she was treated with respect throughout her reign. Her grandson (or possibly great-grandson) K’inich Janaab’ Pakal would become one of the most famous of Mayan kings, ruling an impressive sixty-eight years. Although not a lot is known about the queen dowager, by all surviving accounts, she led her country through a tumultuous time, and her descendants proved themselves as capable as she.
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Lady Yohl Ik’nal – The First Female Ruler of the Mayans - History of Royal Women
Yohl Ikʼnal: Facts for Kids - Kiddle
Empress Taytu Betual was a formidable woman during an important time in Ethiopia's history. When her fifth husband, Menelik of Shewa, ascended to the throne, making her the empress, colonial powers had been carving up Africa for hundreds of years. In the case of Ethiopia, Italy tried to make it a protectorate through a treaty, but the empress knew exactly what this meant, a loss of autonomy for her people. Despite her husband being the titular head of state, she was the real power at court, and she reportedly tore up the treaty and proceeded to battle the Italians. In particular, she was instrumental in the Battle of Adwa. She took command of provisional and medical supplies and provided visible moral support to the troops. She also led an operation to prevent Italian soldiers from getting access to all sources of portable water. Without water, the Italian troops began to flag. The Ethiopians were able to defeat the Italians and push back their efforts at colonization. After the death of her husband, Betual tried to fend of intrigues and plots from the ministers who resented a woman in power, and she even attempted to put her step-daughter, Princess Zewditu, on the throne, but eventually, unlike the Italians, she could not fend of the political attacks from the ministers and other political power brokers, so she reluctantly relinquished power. Yet, during her time, she did manage to lay the foundations for modern Ethiopia and kept the colonial powers at bay. Even her enemies gave her grudging respect. After giving up power, she was exiled to Entoto where she led a reclusive life that included fasting and praying, devoted to her country until the very end.
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Taytu Betul: Women in African History Comic Strip - UNESCO
Taytu Betul: The Cunning Empress of Ethiopia - Library of Congress Blogs
The Queen Dowager Cixi (born Yehenara) was the last empress of China as the Qing dynasty came to a close. In 1835, at the tender age of 16, Yehenara became a concubine, and she reportedly sang so well that she captured the emperor's attention and quickly became a favored concubine. She bore the emperor a son, Tongzhi, and when the emperor died, that five year-old boy was his only heir. Yehenara became his regent, and her name changed to Tzu Hsi, meaning "empress of the western palace." Tzu Hsi was later spelled as Cixi. While her son was one the throne, she ruled through him until she relinquished the throne to him when he turned 17, but he died two years later. His first-ranking concubine, reportedly pregnant at the time, died under mysterious circumstances, although the palace officials reported the cause of death as suicide. After Tongzhi and his concubine's death, Cixi's nephew, Guangxu. a three-year old boy, took the thone, and she became his regent. She relinquished her regency when he came of age, but after Guangxu tried to reform Chinese culture in an effort to modernize many of the structures, the conservatives called for Cixi to renew her regency. She did so and ruled until her death in 1908. Some historians have painted her as a wicked, murderous, power-hungry woman, and others have painted her as a tragic victim of circumstance who did the best that she could to survive in a dangerous situation, as palace life was anything but a fairy tale. No matter what her personality was really like, she managed to keep her country afloat and largely independent during a tumultuous time period as Russia, the United States, Japan, and Great Britain all vied for power in the South Pacific and Asia, and she was the last of the great rulers of China.
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"The Woman Who ‘Ruled’ China: What You Didn’t Know about Empress Dowager Cixi" - South China Morning Post
Cixi, the Last Empress Dowager of China - Smithsonian Snapshot
"Cixi: The Woman Behind the Throne: The Concubine Who Became China’s Last Empress" - Smithsonian Magazine
Lidia Gueiler Trejada became interim president during a particularly tumultuous time in Bolivian history between two coup d'etats. She was only the second woman to be a head of state in the modern Americas, preceded only by Argentina's Isabel Peró. Trejada was a tireless supporter of women's rights and human rights more generally and was opposed to the various military regimes that had plagued Bolivia. Before ascending to the presidency, Trejada was a liberal-leaning member of the parliament, and her fellow members voted her into office, a testament to their beliefs about her skills. During her time in office, she had a number of crises she had to navigate, including the devaluation of her country's currency, leading to economic problems, especially as the cost of gas and food had begun to rise. Her time in office was cut short when her cousin, General Luis García Meza Tejada, staged a coup, and she was forced to flee. She ended up in Paris, where she remained for a number of years until Tejada's regime came to an end, at which point, she returned to Bolivia. Her time abroad had been well-spent and led to the next chapter of her life, as she served as the ambassador to several countries, including Columbia, West Germany, and Venezuela. She even briefly returned to politics to become a senator before retiring from public life in 1993.
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"Lidia Gueiler Tejada: Politician Who Became Only the West's Second Female President" - The Independent (obituaries)
First Woman President of Bolivia Chosen - AP Archive (Available on YouTube)