Women in charge

2008-06-25 14:35

Michele Pierre-Louis, 61, was designated this week Prime Minister of Haiti by President Rene Preval.

She will be the second woman to hold the premiership in Haiti, after Claudette Werleigh, from November 1995 to February 1996.

Haiti's first woman president was Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, who served from March 1990 to February 1991.

Here is a list of women currently in power around the world:

Female heads of government:

Germany: Angela Merkel, elected Chancellor on November 2005, is the first woman to serve in this post in the country's history.

Haiti: Pierre-Louis was designated prime minister on June 24, 2008. She succeeded Jacques-Edouard Alexis who was overthrown in a censure vote by the Haiti parliament on March 12.

Moldova: Zinaida Greceanii, 52, became prime minister on March 31, 2008.

Mozambique: Luisa Diogo has been prime minister since February 2004.

New Zealand: In December 1999 Helen Clark succeeded Jenny Shipley, who was the first woman prime minister of the country.

Santa Lucia: Calliopa Pearlette Louisy, 62, has been the governor general since 1997.

Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko, 48, was prime minister from January to September 2005, before being re-nominated on December 18, 2007.

Female heads of state:

Argentina: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner became president last December after winning the election against another woman, deputy Elisa Carrio.

India: Pratibha Patil was elected in July, 2007 president of India, the first woman to accede to this position in the country.

Chile: Michelle Bachelet became president in March 2006, after becoming the first woman to be elected by universal suffrage as head of state in Chile and Latin America.

Liberia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected president in Africa in a November 2005 election, was sworn in during January, 2006.

Philippines: In January, 2001, Vice-President Gloria Arroyo was nominated head of state to replace Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in a popular uprising. She was later elected in 2004.

Finland: President Tarja Halonen, the first woman to become Finnish president in 2000 was elected to a second term in March 2006.

Ireland: Mary McAleese was elected president of Ireland in October 1997, succeeding Mary Robinson, the first woman in this post in this country. She was re-elected in October 2004.

- AFP