Who became the world’s first woman prime minister when she took office in Ceylon in 1960?

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first woman prime minister when she took office in Ceylon in 1960.

Bandaranaike entered politics after the assassination of her husband, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who had been prime minister of Ceylon. She led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and won the July 1960 general election.

Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, so Bandaranaike is sometimes described as Sri Lanka’s first woman prime minister. She served three separate terms: 1960–1965, 1970–1977, and 1994–2000.

Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, later became president of Sri Lanka, making the Bandaranaike family one of the country’s most influential political families. Bandaranaike’s achievement came before other famous women leaders, including India’s Indira Gandhi and Israel’s Golda Meir.