Feature

Meet The Nine Muslim Women Who Have Ruled Nations

Dalia G

June 9, 2015

When hearing about women’s rights in the Muslim world, the assumed story is often exclusively one of oppression, marginalisation and lack of power. However, many often forget that eight countries have had Muslim women as their head of state. This is compared to the fact that neither of the two major US parties – Democrats and Republicans – has ever nominated a female presidential candidate.

Here are the nine Muslim women who have ruled nations – how many have you heard of?

1. TANSU ÇILLER, Prime Minister of Turkey, 1993-1996

Tansu Çiller was the 30th Prime Minister of Turkey, and lead the conservative True Path Party (DYP). Her tenure as Prime Minister took place during intensified armed conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the Kurdish separatist PKK. As leader of the DYP, she went on to later serve as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Born in Istanbul in 1946, Çiller graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College in Turkey and received her PhD from the University of Connecticut.

2. MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI, President of Indonesia, 2001-2004

Megawati Sukarnoputri is the current leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), one of Indonesia’s largest political parties, and served as President from 2001 to 2004. She is also the daughter of the Indonesia’s first President, Sukamo. She is widely considered to have stabilized the overall democratization process and relationship between legislative, executive and military institutions of the country.

3. MAME MADIOR BOYE, Prime Minister of Senegal, 2001-2002

Born in 1940 and educated, along with her three brothers, as a lawyer, Mame Madior Boye is known for her strong feminist ideals, having frequently raised women’s concerns in her time in government. Upon leaving politics, she was appointed as the special representative of the African Union for the protection of civilian populations in countries with armed conflict. She also founded and was president of the Association of Senegalese Lawyers from 1975 to 1990.

4. ATIFETE JAHJAGA, President of Kosovo, 2011-present

Atifete Jahjaga is the fourth and current President of Kosovo, and is the youngest to ever be elected to the position. Born in 1975, she graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Prishtina in 2000. Before going into politics, she worked in the Kosovo police force, progressing her way up to the rank of Major General. During her presidency, Jahjaga has led many initiatives for the furthering of women’s empowerment, including hosting an international women’s summit in 2012 which was attended by 200 leaders from Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East

5. ROZA OTUNBAYEVA, President of Kyrgyzstan, 2010-2011

Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in as President of Kyrgystan in 2010 after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April revolution that deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Born in 1950, Otunbayeva graduated from the Philosophy faculty of Moscow State University in 1972, and went on to head the philosophy department at Kyrgyz State National University for six years. Her other political and diplomatic posts include being the first ambassador from the Krygyz Republic to the United States and Canada, and the first ambassador to the United Kingdom.

6. SHEIKH HASINA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996 – 2001; 2009 – Present

Sworn into office for the second time in 2009, Sheikh Hasina is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having previously served in the role from 1996 to 2001. She is the eldest of five children of Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first President of Bangladesh. Her political career has spanned more than forty years, during which she has been both Prime Minister and leader of the opposition. She was arrested in 2007 on charges of extortion, however returned as Prime Minister in 2008 after a landslide victory.

7. BENAZIR BHUTTO, Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1988 – 1990; 1993 – 1996

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto – the daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – became the first woman to be elected as the head of a Muslim state. At the young age of 29, she became the chairperson of the centre-left PPP, one of the major political parties in Pakistan, and was known for her charisma and intelligence. Her feminist legacy, however, is complicated. Whilst she often spoke for the empowerment of women, many criticize what is seen as limited action – for example, her inability to repeal the controversial Hudood Ordinance, which implemented a literal form of Shari’a that limited women’s freedoms. Nonetheless, despite her controversial tenures, she was globally mourned following her tragic assassination in 2007.

8. KHALEDA ZIA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1991 – 1996; 2001 – 2006

Born in 1945, Khaleda Zia was the second woman in the Muslim world to become a head of state, after Benazir Bhutto. She was the First Lady of Bangladesh during the presidency of her husband Ziaur Rahman, and is currently the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Her more than decade-long tenure makes her the longest serving Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

And finally, the most recent addition….:

9. AMEENAH FAKIM, President of Mauritius, 2015 – Present

Sworn in on 5 June 2015, Ameenah Fakim is Mauritius’ sixth President, and the first woman to ever run the Hindu-majority country. As well as her successes in politics, Fakim is a highly distinguished biodiversity scientist, having worked in the roles of Dean of Faculty and pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Mauritius. Despite having just started in the position, Fakim has already demonstrated a strong commitment to feminist principles, particularly advocating the importance of education for young girls. She has also expressed deep environmental concerns, pinpointing climate change and sustainable development as primary focuses of her incoming tenure as President.

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Sarah

Tired old rubbish by Anthonykeyes the problem is any kind of fictitious nonsense can be made up re Muslims as on your post. While women did not have inheritance right or rights to education, a millennia before then Islam had already given those rights. Muslim women were opening some of the first universities in the world
anthonykeyes

This was nice, but I could hardly see these nine women through the billions of women oppressed, beaten, stoned, acid washed faces, or merely so covered with cloth that one could only guess they were human…all because people stopped asking “why” when told they were Muslim, and always had to be Muslim, and thereby slowly lost their humanity…not to become closer to the divine…but more like the lower animals. It is the same with Christianity, but not as much.
- Amjad
  
  You read extreme cases and generalize. Muslim women have rights beyond your imagination, for example, muslim women do not have to work unless they chose to, women have equal rights in marriage and divorce, and women are entitled to their monetary rights without having any monetary obligations whatsoever.
  
  The veil you see in some areas is influenced by local cultures, however, women are expected to dress modestly in public. I consider this more dignified compared to beach bikinis, legal prostitution, and obligating women to equally provide.
  - Brian Hull
    
    In many places Muslim women cannot go anywhere without male escort, and cannot seek divorce without the husband’s permission. The truth is the more religion has a hand in government the worse it is for women. This has been historically true for all religions.
    - James
      
      “in many places” list any country beside Saudi Arabia? do you know how many Muslim countries there are? and I agree with the separation of state and religion, merely because every country have multiple religions.
    - Mary
      
      I am a Muslim woman living in america and I can tell you the men hear cat call more than in Lebanon. Bad people are bad people regardless of their religion or ethnicity you guys are forgetting one simple thing. We humans are in total control of ourselves this is proven and a known fact so we cannot blame religion for our actions its our choice to do what we do using religion to back it up doesn’t change it. Every human has a different perspective in life so if we both read the Quran we both will read it differently and that goes to say for anything whether a book, the food we eat, the music we like and so on. We have more control over ourselves than we’d like to think so to simply blame religion and culture for the actions of HUMANS shows how simple minded we are as a society.
    - NH
      
      You people continue to mistake Arab culture with Muslim culture. Stop. That crap about male escort is an Arab thing. Arab is not synonymous with Islam. Get that through your thick CNN washed brains.
- NANS
  
  acid washed faces?? where did u see that? i am sure that happen in the US. more women get rapped and harassed everyday in the USA and Europe more than any Arab or muslim country. women in the westerns world treated very bad like a toy or a sex object westerns men have no respect to women. i lived more than 6 years in the westerns world and i saw it in my own eyes. but you ignorant westerns talk shit and most of u didnt even left his beloved city. i am sick of the lies that you people spread in the ,news,tv and internet. go fix yourself and you country first before you try and fix other countries. you go to countries and destroy it like you did to Iraq and Afghanistan or Vietnam. is that how you treat human?? you said Iraq have chemical weapons you were lying!1 you try to justify all the bad things you do and come up with excuses !!
Ibrahim B Syed

What about the Forgotten Queens of Islam listed by Fatima Mernissi?
Ibrahim B Syed

Correction: She is already listed as No.2.
Ibrahim B Syed

10th is missing. i.e., Sukarno Putri who was President of Indonesia in 2004?
Admiral_Shackleford

None of them are Arab countries. So basically every Mideast culture has had Female leaders except the Arab world, I guess.
- Dave
  
  In Jordan, an Arab country, full equality between the sexes is written into the constitution. The US has so far failed to muster enough support to add the Equal Rights Amendment to our own constitution. And none of the women on this list are Middle Eastern, unless you include Turkey as a Middle Eastern country. But Turkey is generally considered a European nation.
- Al Andalus Ibn Qahtaan
  
  Remember sir, Islam is no longer an Arab religion nor is the majority of Christianity Jews in the mountains of a Jewish community like it was when it first came to be.If we look at both Islam and Christianity the are both religions started by middle easterners but yet inspired by God and have majority followers of different nations in every corner of the globe who aren’t necessarily Arab or their Jewish cousins .
- yasser osman
  
  Arab Muslims are just 30% percent of world Muslim population. Before last year America never had a female nominees for president, and so many other countries. western female wouldn’t even thought about it until half century ago. Everything starts with one step. besides, if you look deeply you’ll see that the Arab women were leaders long before. NO OFFENSE.
misr2013

Where are the Arabs?
- Iqrar Ahmad Mansouri
  
  so what? islam is not an ‘exclusive’ arab club. because first they shout
  Islam being anti-women, and then they say where are the arab women, go
  and ask the arabs, not Islam.
  - misr2013
    
    You discuss the two as if they are mutually exclusive. Unfortunately for islam, the most widely seen trends tend to emerge from the backwardness of the middle East (specifically Saudi Arabia) and spread from there. So yes, you may very well find that with the growing influence of wahabism globally women leaders in other parts of the Muslim world could become just as rare.
    - Salim Mez (privé)
      
      Sayyida al-Hurra (d. 1542) queen of tetouane (arab)
      Shajar al-Durr (d. 1257) ( sultana) Queen of Egypt (arab)
      Al-Malika al-Ḥurra Arwa al-Sulayhi (d. 1138) Queen of Yemen
      Aisha sultana kingdom of Touggourt (algeria)
      Parī Khān Khānum (d. 1578). iranian Princess,
      
      Shifa’ Bint Abdullah first female minister at time of califat umar
      first police women Samra Bint Nuhaik at time of prophet
      first teacher Aisha wife of prophet,
      
      today there are many female ministers in arabs world ,
- Al Andalus Ibn Qahtaan
  
  The aren’t the majority of Muslims any more but their still part of Abraham’s lineage and are considered by many scholars as your cousins, so you should know exactly where your cousins are,I bet Arabs are asking where are the Jews . Both of you need to start acting like cousins and get along .
Commander_Chico

Tansu was quite cute.

A better picture of Benazir Bhutto:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2128/1710129063_01cae8a9f9.jpg
- Roels Major
  
  Atjeh Woman Leader, Cut Nyak Dhien, Cut Nyak Meutia, added. 1900.

Feature

June 9, 2015

Dalia G @daliaeldaba

Dalia is an Egyptian writer and journalist. Currently, she is particularly interested in raising awareness about the historical and current labour and feminist movements in the Arab world.