Modern · a Light

In 1988 a woman took office as prime minister of Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988, the first woman to lead the government of a Muslim majority country in modern times. She was thirty five. Her father, a former prime minister, had been hanged nine years earlier, and she had spent much of the intervening period in prison or in exile. Her opponents argued that a woman could not hold the office at all; the electorate and the courts settled it otherwise. Her two terms were both cut short. She was assassinated in Rawalpindi in 2007. Women have since led governments in Bangladesh, Turkey, Indonesia, Senegal, Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan.

Islamabad · 2 December 1988