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Worldwide, 173 women have overseen an interior ministry or analogous government agency [a] responsible for overseeing a country's public safety and other domestic affairs. [b] Of that number, 88 women have been in charge of interior ministries or analogous agencies in Europe, 29 women have been in Africa, 21 have been in North America, 15 women have been in Oceania, 12 women have been in Asia, and 11 women have been in South America.
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Qian Ying became the first female interior minister worldwide upon becoming China's minister of supervision in 1959. Seven years later, Mabel Moir James became the first female interior minister in North America, serving in this role in Dominica. In 1976, Clara Boscaglia became the first female European interior minister as Minister of the Interior and of Justice of San Marino. Africa would see the first woman serve in such a role when Kebatshabile Disele became Minister of Home Affairs of Botswana in 1979. Ten years later, Margaret Austin became Minister of Internal Affairs of New Zealand, the first such minister in Oceania. Finally, Ana Lucía Armijos became the first minister of the interior in South America in 1998 upon starting her tenure as Ecuador's ministry of the interior.
Norway is the country with the most female interior ministers, with 15 ministers of justice and public security. In contrast, various countries, such as Barbados and Palau, have only had one female interior minister or equivalent political officeholder.
The totals for this list include only female interior ministers or equivalents of sovereign states. Acting interior ministers, as well as administrators of public security and related affairs of dependent territories and subnational entities, are excluded from this article.
