ON Saturday, June 2, Mexico elected her first female president and Jewish leader, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who will be succeeding the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Sheinbaum won against two other major candidates, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez. This year’s Mexico election was also the first in the country’s history which the main contenders for the country’s presidency were women.

The election saw the death of multiple aspiring candidates for political office since January 2024, killing atleast 40. It led to the government providing all-round security for candidates and election officials. 

Claudia Sheinbaum will take office on October 1, 2024, serving  a six-year term before the next election. She is one of the few women in the world serving at the highest point of government.

So far there are over 10 women who are serving as president in the world with Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico and Halla Tómasdóttir of Iceland.  Tómasdóttir is the president-elect of Iceland in the elections held on June 1. She will become the 7th President of Iceland on August 1, 2024.

Below is a compilation of female presidents around the globe in power or about to take over:

Barbados: Dame Sandra Prunella Mason

Dame Sandra Prunella Mason is the first president of Barbados. She took office on November 30, 2021, after Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic. Prior to that time, the head of state was Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, who was represented on the island by a governor-general. Mason was also the also the eighth and last governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021.

Dominica: Sylvania Burton

Sylvania Burton is 9th president of Dominica the first woman from the country to become president. She was elected on September 27 and sworn in on October 2, 2023. Before becoming president, Burton served as permanent secretary in various ministries since 2014 in the country and also held the position of development officer in the Ministry of Kalinago Affairs in the country.

Ethiopia: Sahle-Work Zewde

Sahle-Work Zewde is a politician and diplomat who has served as president of Ethiopia since 2018, being the first woman to hold the office. She was elected as president unanimously by members of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly on October 25, 2018.

Georgia: Salome Zourabichvili

Salome Zourabichvili is currently serving as the fifth president of Georgia. She assumed office in 2018 as the first woman to be elected as Georgia’s president in 2018, a position she will occupy for a term of six years. Following the result of constitutional changes in the country coming into effect in 2024, Zourabichvili is expected to be Georgia’s last popularly elected president. Future heads of state are to be elected indirectly by a parliamentary college of electors.

Greece: Katerina Sakellaropoulou

Katerina Sakellaropoulou  is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since March 13 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic Parliament to succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos on 22 January 2020. Prior to her election as president, Sakellaropoulou served as president of the Council of State, the highest administrative court of Greece. She is the country’s first female president.

Honduras: Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento

Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento assumed office as the president of the country in January 2022, being the 56th president of Honduras and the country’s first female president. She had previously served as the first lady during the presidency of her husband, Manuel Zelaya from 2006 to 2009.

India: Droupadi Murmu

Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as president of India on July 25, 2022, making her the 15th president of the country and second female president after Pratibha Patil. Before becoming president, she was the Governor of Jharkhand and a minister in Odisha government in India.

Malta: Myriam Spiteri Debono

Myriam Spiteri Debono is Malta’s 11th President after winning the election on March 27, 2024, and sworn in on April 4. She is the first president to be elected using the country’s new constitutional reforms of 2020 including the new requirement of two-thirds of the parliament’s approval for the presidential nominee.

Moldova: Maia Sandu

Maia Sandu took office as president of Moldova on December 24, 2020. Following her victory in the nation’s election on November 15, 2020. In addition to being the founder and previous head of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), she served as Moldova’s prime minister from June 8, 2019, until the government fell on November 14, 2019, following a vote of no confidence. She served as Moldova’s Minister of Education from 2012 to 2015 and as a member of the parliament in 2019 as well.

North Macedonia: Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova was sworn in as the 6th president of North Macedonia on May 12, 2024. She was a candidate for the 2019 presidential elections, losing to Stevo Pendarovski in the runoff. She ran again in the 2024 presidential elections and defeated Pendarovski by a landslide in a rematch election. She is North Macedonia’s first female president.

PERU: Dina Boluarte

Dina Boluarte is a 62-year-old a Peruvian politician, civil servant, and lawyer who is the first female president of Peru. She was also the Peru’s first female vice president and was sworn in as president on December 7, 2022, after her predecessor, Former President Pedro Castillo was impeached and arrested.

Slovakia: Zuzana Čaputová

Zuzana Čaputová is currently serving as the 5th president of Slovakia after assuming officce on June 15, 2019. Čaputová is the first woman to hold the presidency, as well as the youngest president in the history of Slovakia, elected at the age of 45.

Slovenia: Nataša Pirc Musar

Nataša Pirc Musar is a journalist and lawyer who was elected as the first female president of Slovenia, succeeding President Borut Pahor. She was sworn in on December 23, 2022.

Trinidad and Tobago: Christine Carla Kangaloo

Christine Carla Kangaloo was elected as president of Trinidad and Tobago on January 20, 2023, and sworn in on March 23 of the same year, succeeding Paula Mae Weekes, the country’s first female president who served from 2018-2023. Kangaloo was the first vice President of the Senate to become the president of the senate as well as the first president of the senate, to become the president-elect of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Tanzania: Samia Suluhu Hassan

Samia Suluhu Hassan is Tanzania’s first female president sworn on March 19, 2021. She ascended to the presidency following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli after serving as the vice president from 2015 to 2021.