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March 6: International: Women in politics

At a campaign rally in the US state of New Hampshire on Feb. 10, 2007, Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady and currently a US Senator representing the state of New York, condemned US President George W Bush for "arrogance and incompetence" in his handling of the US-led occupation of Iraq.  The rally was held as part of Clinton’s ongoing campaign to win the Democratic candidacy in presidential elections in 2008.  If Clinton became the Democratic presidential candidate, then she would become the first woman from a major party to contest a presidential election in the USA.

Immediate Context

Senator Clinton, who in 2000 became the only First Lady to have been elected to public office (and the first female Senator to represent New York), was not the only prominent female politician currently (and actively) seeking her country’s highest political office.  In November 2006, the opposition Socialist Party (PS) in France nominated Segolene Royal, who had previously held a number of senior government posts (including that of the environment minister), as its candidate in the 2007 French presidential elections.   If successful in 2007, Royal would become France's first female president.  It was not uncommon in the 21st century for women to hold senior political posts in government, but in almost all countries (including the USA) the head of state was a man.  However, some women had in recent years succeeded in winning their country’s highest political office, such as president or prime minister, whilst there had also been a significant increase in the number of females holding other senior political positions, such as cabinet portfolios.  Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, for example, became Africa’s first female president in January 2006, after winning the second round of voting in Liberia’s presidential elections in November 2005, whilst Michelle Bachelet became Chile’s first female president in March 2006, after winning the second round of voting in the country’s presidential elections in January.  In February 2007, female presidents also led Finland, Ireland, Israel (on an acting basis), Latvia, the Philippines, and Switzerland, whilst women held the post of prime minister in Germany, Jamaica, New Zealand, Mozambique, the Netherlands Antilles, and South Korea.  

Reaction and outlook

Clinton’s remarks were deemed controversial by some observers because she had in 2002 voted in the Senate to approve a measure which paved the way for the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.  The question of the USA’s ongoing military action in Iraq was widely regarded as a key issue amongst voters in the Democratic primary election and the 2008 presidential election.  After making the remarks, Clinton attempted to distance herself from Iraq, saying that she would not have voted for the 2002 measure "knowing what we know now", adding that she did not believe she had authorised President Bush to launch a "pre-emptive war".

Historical context

Although women in New Zealand first won the right to vote in the late 19th century, it was not until the late 20th century that it became common for females to be elected or appointed to senior political positions around the world.  In the UK, in 1939, Florence Horsbrugh was appointed as a parliamentary secretary in the ministry of health, making her the first woman to hold a ministerial office in the UK since the formation of the National government in August 1931.  In 1960 Sirivamo Bandaranaike became the first woman in the world to be elected as a prime minister after winning elections in Sri Lanka, whilst Isabel Perón became the first female president after taking office in Argentina in 1974.  Peron, who was ousted by a military coup in 1976, fled to Spain in July 1981, where she was arrested in January 2007 in connection with an ongoing investigation in Argentina into the 1976 disappearance (and the presumed murder) of a leftist activist.  Margaret Thatcher, the UK prime minister in 1979-90, Indira Gandhi, the Indian prime minister in 1966-77 and 1980-84, and Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister in 1969-74, were amongst the most prominent female politicians to have led their country in the 20th century.  Thatcher’s term in office was noted for the UK’s military victory over Argentina, following the latter country’s invasion of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) in April 1982, her pursuit of right-wing social and economic policies, and a close working relationship with Ronald Reagan during his term in office as president of the USA (1981-89).  Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi (the Indian capital) in October 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards, prompting a wave of sectarian violence between Hindus and Sikhs during which almost 3,000 people were killed.  Meir resigned from her post in April 1974, after discord within her ruling Labour Party and following Israel’s involvement in the Yom Kippur War in October 1973.

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Timeline links:

• January 2007 Isabel Martinez de Perón, the former president of Argentina, is arrested in Spain in connection with an ongoing investigation into the disappearance and presumed murder a leftist activist who had last been seen in February 1976.
• March 2006 Michelle Bachelet is sworn in as the new president of Chile.    
• January 2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as the new president of Liberia.    
• January 2006 Michelle Bachelet becomes the first woman to win Chile's presidential elections.    
• November 2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf becomes the first woman to win a presidential election in Africa.    
• March 2003 The USA, with the support of the UK, launches a war against Iraq with the stated aims of disarming the country of its weapons of mass destruction, freeing its people, and deposing President Saddam Hussein and his regime.    
• October 2002 The US Congress votes to authorise President George W. Bush to take military action to deprive Iraq of any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) if the administration's attempts to resolve the issue by diplomacy under the auspices of the UN fail.   
• February 2001 It emerges that Hillary Clinton’s brother, Hugh Rodham, had accepted US$400,000 in "legal fees" for lobbying White House officials on behalf of clemency applications from two former felons.    
• November 2000 Hillary Clinton is elected to the US Senate.  
• September 2000 Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent for the US Senate (the upper house of US Congress) seat for the state of New York, Rick Lazio, participate in their first debate; it is announced that there is "insufficient evidence to prove that either President Clinton or his wife Hillary Clinton had committed any criminal acts in a series of loan and property transactions in the late 1970s and early 1980s.    
• June 2000 It is announced that charges would not be brought against Hillary Clinton following an investigation into the White House travel office scandal in 1993, in which it was alleged that she had ordered the dismissal of seven employees in order to create opportunities for her own associates from Arkansas.    
• February 2000 Hillary Clinton ends months of speculation and doubt about her undeclared campaign for a US Senate seat by officially declaring her candidacy.    
• November 1990 Margaret Thatcher is succeeded as UK prime minister by John Major.    
• March 1990 Kazimiera Prunskiene is elected as provisional prime minister in Lithuania following the country’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.    
• October 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated.    
• July 1984 In a national referendum held in Liechtenstein, the male electorate voted in favour of introducing female suffrage at national level, reversing the outcome of previous referendums in 1971 and 1973.    
• June 1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), provoking a war with the UK.    
• January 1981 Ronald Reagan becomes the 40th president of the USA.    
• January 1980 Indira Gandhi is re-elected as prime minister of India.    
• May 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of the UK.    
• March 1977 Indira Gandhi is removed from power in India after the opposition Janata Party and its allies win a general election.    
• October 1976 Former Argentinian President Isabel Martínez de Perón is transferred to a naval base at Azul, south of Buenos Aires; it was judged that she should be held in preventive detention.    
• March 1976 Argentinian President Isabel Martínez de Perón is ousted from power in a military coup.    
• July 1974 Isabel Martinez de Perón assumes the presidency of Argentina following the death of her husband, General Juan Domingo Perón.    
• April 1974 Israeli Prime Minister Gold Meir announces her resignation.    
• October 1973 The fourth war since 1948 between the Arab States and Israel breaks out when an Egyptian offensive is launched across the Suez Canal and a Syrian offensive on the Golan Heights.  
• December 1970 The Royal Commission on the Status of Women publishes a report in Canada making recommendations to "improve the lives of women".    
• September 1969 Proposals to introduce female suffrage are approved in the canton of Zurich but rejected in Schaffhausen.    
• March 1969 Gold Meir becomes the first female prime minister of Israel.    
• January 1966 Indira Gandhi is elected as India’s first female prime minister.    
• January 1966 Kubra Noorzai becomes Afghanistan's first woman cabinet minister when she takes office as minister of public health.    
• February 1961 A bill granting women the right to vote and stand for election in the Bahamas is approved by the National Assembly.    
• July 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman to be elected as prime minister after her Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) wins a general election.    
• February 1959 In a national referendum in Switzerland, voters reject a proposal allowing women the right to vote.    
• May 1957 In municipal elections in Tunisia, women for the first time are empowered with the right to vote and to be elected.    
• December 1952 During his inauguration speech Mexican President Ruiz Cortines proposes constitutional and legislative reforms, including legislation giving Mexican women "equal political rights with men".    
• May 1952 Women in Greece are granted the right to vote in national elections.    
• June 1952 The Al Azhar University in Cairo, one of the then-leading intellectual and theological institutions in the Islamic world, speaks out against women’s rights.    
• January 1952 Under the terms of a new constitution in Greece, women are granted equal political rights with men.    
• February 1951 In Egypt, a petition demanding the franchise for women is presented to the Prime Minister by leaders of the Egyptian feminist movement.   
• February 1947 Ellen Cicely Wilkinson, a prominent member of the suffragette movement in the UK, dies aged 55.    
• March 1941 The role of women in the UK’s national war effort is debated in the country’s lower chamber.    
• January 1941 In Iraq, the government begins considering changes to the country’s marriage laws aimed at encouraging marriage and the progressive emancipation of women.    
• April 1940 In the Canadian province of Quebec, women are granted the right to vote in provincial elections and contest provincial legislative elections.  
• July 1939 In the UK, the King approves the appointment of Florence Horsbrugh as a parliamentary secretary in the ministry of health, making her the first woman to hold a ministerial office since the formation of the National government in 1931.    
• December 1938 Women are granted limited voting rights in Hungary.    
• February 1938 Congress in France approves a bill granting married women certain rights, including the right to attend university, hold their own bank account, and set-up business in their own name.   
• October 1937 Married women in Bulgaria are granted the right to vote and to stand for election.    
• January 1937 The National League of Women Voters announces that 135 women will be members of US state legislatures' in 1937.    
• June 1936 Three women are appointed to cabinet positions in France, marking the first such occasion in the country’s history.   
• May 1936 Members of the Oxford Union Society vote against allowing women to lead its weekly debates.    
• April 1936 The UK House of Commons votes against adopting legislation calling for equality of pay between men and women employed by the civil service.      
• June 1935 A new constitution in Cuba grants women the same voting rights as men.    
• March 1935 The lower chamber in France votes to grant women the right to vote.    
• February 1935 Women in Turkey vote for the first time; seventeen female legislators are elected to the 399-seat Turkish National Assembly.    
• December 1934 In the UK, married women are placed in the same legal position as unmarried women or men regarding their capacity to enter into contracts, take legal action, and to be made bankrupt.    
• March 1934 Women in the UK’s civil service are granted some rights of sexual equality.    
• January 1934 The UK foreign secretary appoints a committee to review the question of the admission of women into the diplomatic and consular services.    
• December 1933 A leading German doctor announces that Nazism aims is to remove all female doctors from practice and prevent women from studying medicine.    
• October 1933 The annual conference of the UK National Council of Women is held in Torquay.   
• July 1933 In Nazi Germany, a law is passed restricting the rights of women to work.    
• June 1933 The Suffrage Committee of the French Congress supports a bill granting women the right to vote.    
• June 1933 A women’s movement in Germany drafts a document supporting the Nazi doctrine saying that women must renounce political and professional rights and concentrate on domestic duties.    
• October 1932 The German government announces that it proposes to retain universal suffrage.    
• August 1932 In Turkey, women are granted the right to join the police force.   
• February 1932 The Senate in France votes to grant women the right to vote but the approval is then overturned.    
• December 1931 Women become eligible for appointment to commercial courts in France.     
• December 1931 Women are granted the right to vote in Spain.    
• August 1931 The first National government is formed in the UK.    
• July 1931 In Persia (Iran), it is reported that the government is attempting to persuade women to stop wearing a veil, whilst instructing the proprietors of cafes, cinemas, and other public places, to admit women to their establishments.  
• July 1931 It is reported in the Soviet Union that a law will be promulgated to enlist some 1,600,000 women and girls to replace men in some industrial jobs.