Women Speakers of national parliaments

Before 1945:

Austria was the only state where a woman was elected president of a chamber (the Bundesrat ) before World War II

From 1945 to 1997:

Only 42 of the 186 states with legislative institutions at some point in their history have had a woman chair of parliament or a chamber of parliament: this has occurred 78 times in all.
These are 18 European countries, 19 countries in the Americas, three African countries, one country in Asia and one country in the Pacific.
Twenty-four of the states in question had a bicameral parliament, and the presidency was given to a woman somewhat more frequently in the Senate than in the People's Chamber.

Current Status:

Only 59 women preside over one of the Houses of the 192 Parliaments, 80 of which are bicameral. Women therefore occupy only 21% of the total filled posts of Presiding Officers of Parliament or of one of its Houses. See a full list of women Speakers below, including the link to global and regional percentages for Speakers.

Lower and unicameral chambers

Upper chambers

Country data on women speakers

Women Speakers: Global and regional percentages

ISO Code	Country	Country without accent	Region	Chamber	Structure of parliament	Chamber type	Official title	Full name	Year of birth	Sex	Date of appointment
AD	Andorra	Andorra	Europe	General Council	Unicameral		Speaker (Syndica General) of the General Council	Roser Suñé Pascuet	1960	Female	02 May 2019
AG	Antigua and Barbuda	Antigua and Barbuda	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Alincia Williams-Grant		Female	25 Jun 2014
AR	Argentina	Argentina	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner	1953	Female	10 Dec 2019
AT	Austria	Austria	Europe	Federal Council	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Federal Council	Andrea Eder-Gitschthaler	1961	Female	01 Jul 2020
AZ	Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	Europe	National Assembly	Unicameral		Chairwoman of the National Assembly	Sahiba Gafarova	1955	Female	10 Mar 2020
BS	Bahamas	Bahamas	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Mildred Hall-Watson		Female	05 Dec 2019
BH	Bahrain	Bahrain	Middle East and North Africa	Council of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the Council of Representatives	Fawzia Zainal	1961	Female	12 Dec 2018
BD	Bangladesh	Bangladesh	Asia	Parliament	Unicameral		Speaker of Parliament	Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury	1966	Female	30 Apr 2013
BY	Belarus	Belarus	Europe	Council of the Republic	Bicameral	Upper chamber	Chairperson of the Council of the Republic	Natalya Kochanova	1960	Female	06 Dec 2019
BE	Belgium	Belgium	Europe	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	President of the House of Representatives	Eliane Tillieux	1966	Female	13 Oct 2020
BE	Belgium	Belgium	Europe	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Stephanie D'Hose	1981	Female	13 Oct 2020
BZ	Belize	Belize	Americas	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Valerie Woods		Female	11 Dec 2020
BZ	Belize	Belize	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Carolyn Trench Sandiford		Female	11 Dec 2020
BA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Borjana Krišto	1961	Female	06 Dec 2018
BG	Bulgaria	Bulgaria	Europe	National Assembly	Unicameral		Speaker of the National Assembly	Tsveta Karayancheva	1968	Female	17 Nov 2017
CL	Chile	Chile	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Adriana Muñoz	1948	Female	17 Mar 2020
CD	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the National Assembly	Jeannine Mabunda Lioko	1964	Female	24 Apr 2019
GQ	Equatorial Guinea	Equatorial Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	María Teresa Efua Asangono		Female	12 Jul 2013
SZ	Eswatini	Eswatini	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Lindiwe Dlamini	1965	Female	23 Oct 2018
FI	Finland	Finland	Europe	Parliament	Unicameral		Speaker of Parliament	Anu Vehviläinen	1963	Female	09 Jun 2020
GA	Gabon	Gabon	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Lucie Milebou-Aubusson	1957	Female	27 Feb 2015
GM	Gambia (The)	Gambia (The)	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Unicameral		Speaker of the National Assembly	Mariam Jack Denton		Female	11 Apr 2017
ID	Indonesia	Indonesia	Asia	House of Representatives	Unicameral		Speaker of the House of Representatives	Puan Maharani	1973	Female	02 Oct 2019
IT	Italy	Italy	Europe	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati	1946	Female	24 Mar 2018
JM	Jamaica	Jamaica	Americas	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert		Female	15 Sep 2020
JP	Japan	Japan	Asia	House of Councillors	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the House of Councillors	Akiko Santo	1942	Female	01 Aug 2019
KI	Kiribati	Kiribati	Pacific	House of Assembly	Unicameral		Speaker of the House of Assembly	Tangariki Reete	1967	Female	22 May 2020
LA	Lao People's Democratic Republic	Lao People's Democratic Republic	Asia	National Assembly	Unicameral		President of the National Assembly	Pany Yathotou	1951	Female	23 Dec 2010
LV	Latvia	Latvia	Europe	Parliament	Unicameral		Speaker of Parliament	Inara Murniece	1970	Female	04 Nov 2014
LS	Lesotho	Lesotho	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Mamonaheng Mokitimi		Female	11 Jul 2017
LR	Liberia	Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	The Liberian Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Jewel Howard Taylor (President)	1963	Female	22 Jan 2018
LT	Lithuania	Lithuania	Europe	Parliament	Unicameral		Speaker of the Seimas	Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen	1983	Female	13 Nov 2020
MG	Madagascar	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Bicameral	Lower chamber	President of the National Assembly	Christine Razanamahasoa	1951	Female	16 Jul 2019
MW	Malawi	Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Unicameral		Speaker of the National Assembly	Catherine Gotani Hara		Female	19 Jun 2019
MX	Mexico	Mexico	Americas	Chamber of Deputies	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies	Dulce María Sauri Riancho		Female	02 Sep 2020
MZ	Mozambique	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	Assembly of the Republic	Unicameral		Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic	Esperança Laurinda Francisco Nhiuane Bias	1958	Female	13 Jan 2020
NL	Netherlands	Netherlands	Europe	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Khadija Arib	1960	Female	13 Jan 2016
NO	Norway	Norway	Europe	Parliament	Unicameral		President of the Storting	Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen	1966	Female	15 Mar 2018
PE	Peru	Peru	Americas	Congress of the Republic	Unicameral		President of the Congress of the Republic	Mirtha Esther Vásquez Chuquilin	1975	Female	17 Nov 2020
PL	Poland	Poland	Europe	Sejm	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Marshal of the Sejm	Elżbieta Witek	1957	Female	09 Aug 2019
MD	Republic of Moldova	Republic of Moldova	Europe	Parliament	Unicameral		President of the Parliament	Zinaida Greceanîi	1956	Female	08 Jun 2019
RO	Romania	Romania	Europe	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Anca Dana Dragu	1972	Female	21 Dec 2020
RU	Russian Federation	Russian Federation	Europe	Council of the Federation	Bicameral	Upper chamber	Speaker of the Council of the Federation	Valentina Matvienko	1949	Female	21 Sep 2011
RW	Rwanda	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	Chamber of Deputies	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies	Donatille Mukabalisa	1960	Female	05 Oct 2013
LC	Saint Lucia	Saint Lucia	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Jeannine Michele Giraudy-McIntyre		Female	20 Mar 2018
VC	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Americas	House of Assembly	Unicameral		Speaker of the House of Assembly	Rochelle Forde	1974	Female	30 Nov 2020
ZA	South Africa	South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the National Assembly	T R Modise	1958	Female	22 May 2019
ES	Spain	Spain	Europe	Congress of Deputies	Bicameral	Lower chamber	President of the Congress of Deputies	Meritxell Batet	1973	Female	03 Dec 2019
ES	Spain	Spain	Europe	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	María Pilar Llop Cuenca	1973	Female	03 Dec 2019
TG	Togo	Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	National Assembly	Unicameral		President of the National Assembly	Yawa Djigbodi Tsegan	1971	Female	23 Jan 2019
TT	Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Bridgid Annisette-George	1958	Female	23 Sep 2015
TT	Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Christine Kangaloo		Female	23 Sep 2015
TM	Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan	Asia	Assembly	Unicameral		Chairman of the Assembly	Gulshat Mamedova	1964	Female	30 Mar 2018
UG	Uganda	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	Parliament	Unicameral		Speaker of Parliament	Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga	1956	Female	19 May 2011
US	United States of America	United States of America	Americas	House of Representatives	Bicameral	Lower chamber	Speaker of the House of Representatives	Nancy Pelosi	1940	Female	03 Jan 2019
UY	Uruguay	Uruguay	Americas	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the General Assembly and of the Senat	Beatriz Argimón	1961	Female	01 Mar 2020
UZ	Uzbekistan	Uzbekistan	Asia	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	Chairwoman of the Senate	Tanzila Narbaeva	1956	Female	21 Jun 2019
VN	Viet Nam	Viet Nam	Asia	National Assembly	Unicameral		President of the National Assembly	Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan	1954	Female	31 Mar 2016
ZW	Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senate	Bicameral	Upper chamber	President of the Senate	Mabel M. Chinomona	1958	Female	11 Sep 2018