Sirimavo Bandaranaike

In July 1960 Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister, leading the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to victory a year after her husband's assassination. She entered politics through the route that gave many women in South Asia their first access to top office, family succession, and critics at first dismissed her as a stand-in. She proved them wrong across three terms spanning four decades, though her record, including the 1972 constitution and emergency rule, remains disputed. Her career is the starting point for any discussion of how women reached executive power.