Adolf Eduard von Steiger was a Swiss lawyer and politician who served as the 51st President of the Swiss Confederation twice in 1945 and 1951 for Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents. Von Steiger served as a Member of the Federal Council (Switzerland) from 1941 to 1951 and previously on the Grand Council of Bern from 1914 to 1939.
Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki is a Finnish politician who was the first female and 39th prime minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland.
The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since after World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand coalition government composed of representatives of the country's major parties and language regions.
Elisabeth Domitien served as the prime minister of the Central African Republic from 1975 to 1976. She was the first and to date only woman to hold the position, and was the first woman to serve as prime minister of a country in Africa.
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, also called the Swiss Socialist Party, is a political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council since 1960 and received the second-highest number of votes in the 2023 Swiss federal election.
Micheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs during her tenure as a Federal Councillor. She was President of the Swiss Confederation twice, in 2007 and 2011.
Maria das Neves Ceita Baptista de Sousa served as the 11th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe. She was a key figure in the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe-Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD) and became the first woman head of government in the country.
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl is a German doctor and politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), she was president of the People's Chamber of East Germany from April to October 1990. During this time, she was also the interim head of state of East Germany, holding both posts until the state's merger into West Germany in October. She was the youngest, only female and the last head of state of East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, she served in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, first as Minister for Special Affairs, one of five appointed in 1991 to provide representation for the last East German government in the Kohl cabinet, then as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Health for the remainder of Chancellor Kohl's time in office.
Agatha Barbara, was a Maltese politician, having served as a Labour Member of Parliament and Minister. She was the first woman to serve as president of Malta, and remains the longest-serving woman Member of Parliament in Maltese political history.
Hanna Stanisława Suchocka is a Polish political figure, lawyer, professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Chair of the Constitutional Law Department, former First Vice-President and Honorary President of the Venice Commission.
Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry was a Liberian politician. She served as the interim Chairman of the Council of State of Liberia from 3 September 1996 until 2 August 1997, following the First Liberian Civil War. After eleven international peace attempts between 1990 and 1995 to end the civil war in Liberia, the attempts appeared to succeed. The interim Council of State consisted of a civilian chairman, as well as members of warring factions: Charles Taylor, United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-K leader Alhaji Kromah, Liberia Peace Council leader George Boley, and two other civilians.
Maria do Carmo Trovoada Pires de Carvalho Silveira served as the 13th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from 8 June 2005 to 21 April 2006.
Reneta Ivanova Indzhova is a Bulgarian economist who served as the caretaker Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1994 to 1995, appointed by President Zhelyu Zhelev. A political independent, she is the first woman to have served as Prime Minister in Bulgaria. Prior to that, she chaired the Privatisation Agency and later on, from 2012 to 2014, she chaired the National Statistical Institute.
Doris Leuthard is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2006 to 2018. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC), she was elected as President of the Swiss Confederation for 2010 and 2017. Leuthard headed the Federal Department of Economic Affairs until 2010, when she became head of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. As of 19 December 2019 she is a member of the board of the Kofi Annan Foundation and Stadler Rail.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) until 2008, she was then a member of the splinter Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) until 2021, when that party merged into The Centre. Widmer-Schlumpf was the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police from 2008 to 2010, when she became head of the Federal Department of Finance. She served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2012.
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.
Emilie Lieberherr, was a Swiss politician.
Flavia Alessandra Wasserfallen is a Swiss politician who serves on the Council of States (Switzerland) the Social Democratic Party since 2023. She previously served on the National Council (Switzerland) from 2018 to 2023 and the Grand Council of Bern between 2002 and 2012. She is likely not related to Christian Wasserfallen of The Liberals.
Roger Nicolas Nordmann is a Swiss politician who currently serves on the National Council for the Social Democratic Party since 2004. He has also been the president of the Social Democratic group.
Margareta Kiener Nellen known as Margret Kiener Nellen is a Swiss attorney, translator and former Swiss politician. She served on the Swiss National Council between 2003 and 2019 for the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP).
