Asia, an Infinite Wellspring of Women Politicians

By Kajal Zolfaqarinia

Translated by Shiva Mirhasani

The ancient continent hosts the highest number of powerful women

Le Monde, the French leading daily, wrote, “by all accounts, Asia is an infinite wellspring of the women politicians”. The sentence refers to a continent where hosts the highest number of the women politicians who have achieved the highest political and governmental positions. Here, we intend to demonstrate this claim through introducing a number of the most influential Asian women.

The first woman of our list is nobody but the first female Prime Minister of the world, SirimavoRatwatte Dias Bandaranaike, who was appointed as Ceylon’s Prime Minister when her husband, Solomon Bandaranaike, was assassinated in 1960.She served as Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times, 1960–65, 1970–77 and 1994–2000.

According to wafa.ir, the second position on the list belongs to Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. After Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Gandhi was the second female head of a government who was elected as the India’s Prime Minister two times. Indira Gandhi, who is known in India as “Mother India”, could somehow relieve the grinding poverty in India and its heavy dependence on Britain through proposing a plan called improving Indian economic level. When her first tenure as the prime minister was wound up, Indira was expelled from the power by the opposition and imprisoned for a while; however, she founded a new party and was elected as the Prime Minister for the second time in 1980. The opposition who were not able to compete her politically, decided to remove her physically. Thus, they assassinated the Indian female Prime Minister in 1984. Indira Gandhi served as the Prime Minister of India since January 19, 1966 to March 24, 1977 and from January 14, 1980 till the day she was assassinated on October 31, 1984.

Maria Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino Is another Asian woman who was the wife of former senator and assassinated leader of the Filipino opposition, Benigno Aquino. After Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines Dictator, was toppled through 1986 People Power Revolution, she became the first female president in the whole history of Philippines. Corazon Aquino played a significant role in victory of the People Power Revolution in 1986 resulted in the overthrown of 20-year hegemony of Ferdinand Marcos. She remained at the top of the power pyramid in her country till 1992.

Next one is Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former Pakistani Prime Minister and President, whose government was removed from office through a military coup in 1977 led by the then chief of army General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and was executed in 1979. As the leader of Peoples Party, Benazir was elected as the Prime Minister for two terms since 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. She was condemned to five years imprisonment and paying $ 8 million on a charge of corruption, although none of them were proved in the Pakistan court. In 2006, she made a political coalition with Nawaz Sharif with the aim of coping with General Pervez Musharraf. After many years of self-imposed exile, Bhutto returned Karachi on October 18, 2007. Eventually, she was assassinated through a suicide attack in Rawalpindion December 27, 2007, while she was participating in a campaign visit.

TansuPenbeÇiller is the       Turkey’s first and only female Prime Minister. As the head of True Path Party, she became the Turkey Prime Minister during presidency of President  TurgutÖzal, in 1989 to 1993.

Begum Khaleda Zia was the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh during 1991 to 1996. She also served in this position during 2001 to 2006. Khaleda Zia presided over the conservative Nationalist Bangladesh Party which is considered as a moderate rightist party. When her husband, General ZiaurRahman, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, was assassinated in 1981, she started her political activity. When the Nationalist Bangladesh Party succeeded in occupying most seats of Bangladesh Parliament in February 1991 election, as the leader of this party she was ratified by the parliament for being the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Then, Sheikh Hasina, the eldest of five children of Sheikh MujiburRahman, the founding father (and first president) of Bangladesh, took the power from her tough rival Khaleda Zia and became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for 5 years (1996-2001). She regained the power in 2007 and now is the current Prime Minister of the country.

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the woman who became either the prime minster or the president of the Republic of Sri Lanka within 11 years (1994-2005), is somehow a political heir, as well.

Her father, Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike, was the former Prime Minister of Ceylon who was murdered by a Buddhist monk in 1959. Her Mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was the first female Prime Minister of the world. Sirimavo became the successor of her assassinated husband and served as the Prime Minister of Ceylon for three times during 1960’s, 1970’s and 1990’s. She was appointed as the Prime Minister for the third time when her daughter Chandrika became the president of Sri Lanka, however, she was not powerful   during her third course.

Thus, it can be concluded that their relationship was not as good as it seemed.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is another Filipino woman who served as the 14th President and the second female president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010.

She is the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal. Arroyo has been admired by many political and religious leaders for her positive political and economic measures.

DiahPermata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Ahmed Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia and who had declared Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands in 1945, became president of Indonesia in 2001.

In fact, when Suharto, the Indonesian dictator, resigned after 40 years, the first free election in Indonesia was held on June 7, 1999and her party, People’s Democracy Party, succeeded to gain one third of the parliamentary seats.

In this parliament, Abdurrahman Wahid, the founder of NahdlatulUlama and the founder of the National Awakening Party, was selected as the president and he appointed Sukarno as his deputy. Then Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri became the president of Indonesia during 2001 to 2004.

PratibhaDevisinghPatil is the 12th president and the first female president of India who was the 24th and first governor of Rajasthan during 2004 to 2007. She was elected as the India’s president on July 25, 2007. According to the India’s constitution, the president of India is the first Indian citizen and the commander general of all army forced. She is the first Indian woman who achieved such great position after India gained independence from Britain.

The last woman of our Asian female politicians list is YingluckShinawatra who as the member of the Pheu Thai Party was ratified by Thailand’s election commission in 2011.

After achieving the highest number of seats of Thailand’s parliament she introduced herself as the first head of government of Thailand. She owed her success to her brother, ThaksinShinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand whose government was toppled following a coup in 2006.

As a result, as you see, Asia, as the ancient continent of the world, has been host of the highest number of female politicians in the world. It seems that we will witness rise of more female politicians in future in Asia.