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From: ecl@hocsj.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: re: Women Heads of State (Summary)
Message-ID: <205@hocsj.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Oct-84 09:05:36 EST
Article-I.D.: hocsj.205
Posted: Tue Oct 30 09:05:36 1984
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Reference: <189@hocsj.UUCP>, <1174@dciem.UUCP>

> Margaret Thatcher is not Head of State; another woman is.  But Thatcher
> got Britain into an expensive war (and got re-elected for it -- Reagan
> noticed), Elizabeth II did not.

Martin Taylor claims (correctly) that though Deepak Sabnis said "heads of
state" (in the original posting), he or she actually meant "leaders." The four
he/she listed were leaders; most of my list were also.  I listed Elizabeth
*I*, not Elizabeth *II*--and I consider the defeat of the Spanish Armada a war
that she led her country in.  I would never list Elizabeth II or any of the
other female nominal "heads of state" as leaders.

The other point that comes out is that most of the woman leaders were not
elected in any sense.  The four Sabnis listed were--if not by direct popular
vote, at least by the vote of the respective parliaments who were in turn
elected by popular vote.  Everyone in Israel who was voting for his or her
representative in the Knesset knew that he or she were also voting for or
against Meir, for example.  Then again, the majority of men heads of state
through history weren't elected either...

Following is the summary.

From: dss00@amdahl.UUCP (Deepak S. Sabnis)
>A.  It seems that there have been (including the present) four
>    women head of states.
>       1. Sirimao Bandarnaike - Sri Lanka
>	2. Indira Gandhi       - India
>	3. Golda Mayer         - Israel
>	4. Margaret Thatcher   - U.K.

From: ecl@hocsj.UUCP (e.c.leeper)
What about:
	Nefertiti (Eqypt)
	Cleopatra (Eqypt)
	Boadicea (ancient Britain)
	Isabella of Spain
	Mary, Queen of Scots
	Mary I of England
	Elizabeth I of England
	Christina of Sweden
	Mary (of William and Mary)
	Catherine the Great of Russia
	Queen Victoria
	Juliana of the Netherlands
	(?) Peron of Argentina (not Eva, but the recent one)

(As someone below pointed out, Nefertiti shouldn't be on this list.)
Cleopatra led the Egyptians against the Romans (unsuccessfully).  Boadicea
did the same for the ancient Britons (with the same results).  Isabella of
Spain was Isabella La Catolica, who with Ferninand drove the Moors from Spain.
Mary, Queen of Scots, warred with Britain (unsuccessfully).  Mary I had lots
of internal strife to deal with, but I don't believe she fought any external
wars.  Elizabeth I was the defeat of the Spanish Armada.  Christina (I believe)
led her country in war against invaders from Russia.  Mary (of William and Mary)
I don't know much about.  Catherine the Great fought some battles (see below).
Queen Victoria reigned when British sovereigns still had some power (and during
the Boer war and the ongoing conflicts in India).  Juliana was during WWII, but
it's not clear to me how much power she had.

From: ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiucdcsb:grass (Judy Grass)
> Catherine the Great was only the last of a run of female Czarina's that
> made up a period of Russian history known as the "Gynococracy".  Another
> was Elizabeth.  There were two or three others as well.  Highlights of
> their reigns:  Various succesfull skirmishes with the Swedes and Caucasian
> tribes.  Peasant rebellions put down.  A mixed bag, as far as reforms
> go.

From: kissell@flairvax.UUCP
> Norway, too, had a woman for Prime Minister not long ago.  Isabel Peron
> was at least the nominal leader of a Peronist government of Argentina
> in the '70s.

From: astrovax!dartvax!betsy (Betsy Hanes Perry)
> I think you missed Queen Anne of England, Hatshepsut of Egypt,
> (Nefertiti didn't rule, you know...) and Isabella la Catolica of
> Spain.

(I did miss the first two, but Isabella was listed.)

From: ihnp4!stolaf!umn-cs!digi-g!brian
> Another one is the President of Iceland, the first woman elected by POPULAR
> VOTE to head of state (PM of England is chosen by the majority party in
> Parlament).  I don't remember her name.

(See my final comment above.)

					Evelyn C. Leeper
					...ihnp4!hocsj!ecl