Vigdis Finnbogadottir, first female president of Iceland, chats with Empress Michiko before a concert at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on April 19, 1996. (Chiaki Tsukumo / Associated Press)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the first woman to hold the post. (Remy de la Mauviniere / Associated Press)
Isabel Peron succeeded her husband, Juan, as president of Argentina in 1974, becoming the world’s first female president. (Eduardo Di Baia / Associated Press)
Margaret Thatcher, Europe’s first female prime minister, was the only British prime minister in the 20th century to win three consecutive terms. She held the post from 1979 to 1990. (Matthew Fearn / Associated Press)
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Corazon Aquino served six turbulent years as president of the Philippines after helping lead hundreds of thousands in a “people power” revolution that brought down the corrupt regime of strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos in February 1986. By the end of her term, the woman who was named Time magazines Woman of the Year in 1987 and who won a standing ovation from a joint session of the U.S. Congress, had lost much of the global goodwill that accompanied her accession to power. (Alberto Marquez / Associated Press)
