Bangladesh has had female Prime Ministers. Khaleda Zia currently, who originally succeeded her husband, and Sheikh Hasina, who served in between. I don’t know the details on Hasina, but I believe she was elected (parliamentary system there).
Wikipedia’s page on Current Female Heads of Government.
Thatcher was elected, fair and square within the rules of the British voting system: she was leader of the Conservative Party at the time of the General Election. Same as all our male PMs. To suggest she was a man because she was odious is a No True Scotsman argument.
Or sons… 
Sorry, Polerious, the “NTS” comment was directed at Mr Mace not you.
Forgot Turkey’s Tansu Ciller
Not to mention Eugenia Charles of Dominica (fair & square), Mary Robinson of Ireland (though the Irish Pres is more head-of-state than government), Gloria Acquino (wife of former) and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (daughter of former) of the Philippines, and India elected Sonia Gandhi (Italian Nehru dynasty member who turned it down).
…and don’t forget Golda Meir.
I didn’t know that Africa had a President. :dubious:
But that’s a very real point. Being President of Liberia means less than being Governor of any decent sized US State, and we have had quite a few female Governors.
Hmm. This attitude bugs me. In addition to para-gubernatorial duties, the President of Liberia also has to deal with defense against its near neighbours, international relations and foreign policy, balancing the budget with no recourse to a supra-government, preventing another civil war, attempting to provide healthcare for the entire country etc. etc.
The country may be the same size as a US state, and have a similar population size, and its economy may be in the toilet, but the position is a much bigger responsiblility, IMO, than being a governer.
Well, that’s your Opinion. But still- there’s what- 55 nations in Africa? And some of them change their Head of State a couple times a year. So, even assuming an “election” once every 4 years like the USA has, then Africa gets 55 chances every 4 years to elect a female- and the USA gets one. Those 55 nations can thus be compared to US states. And some 10 or so of those 55 nations have populations under 1 million. Being Head of State of the Seychelles (for example) is quite possibly a less demanding job than some mayors have here.
The problem with this statement, as with the OP, is that it is incorrect to compare an entire continent with a single country, no matter how large or small.
Has a serious female candidate actually stood for the position?
And didn’t you have one in 1992-2000? 
…New Zealand has had two: Rt Hon Jenny Shipley and the Rt Hon Helen Clark.
Whoah there. Would you say that to a Liberian’s face?
I don’t see how this puts us ahead of or behind any other country when it comes to women’s rights or reall, anything. In fact I actually find this notion insulting to women, the idea that we haven’t really accepted them into the political process until we’ve run some show-horse female candidate and elected her just so we could say we elected a woman.
Women have had political equality with men for a long time in this country. Women have been winning elected office for some time as well. To a lesser degree than men? Certainly, but how many women run for office versus the number of men? This is all, imo, part of the grander debate about there not being a representative number of women in lots of career fields. Politics is a very special career field and thus gets a lot of attention.
We might question why fewer women are interested in and run for political office, but that would be a whole different thread.
OK, this is a good point.
It seems that Americans are able to entrust running their state to a woman.
So,
Does that necessarily mean that they are able to entrust them with running the whole country?
Why haven’t any of the women governors ever run for office? Isn’t it true that, historically, governors have had a good chance of being elected?
The answer to this one seems to be “yes”
Of course, then they say this
Which is stupid (no gender has an advantage on domestic issues), but that is the subject for another thread.
It’s quite possible the Americans polled though “domestic” issues meant stuff like taking care of the kids and morality. As opposed to stuff like taxes, criminal justice and etc.
One thing you should never do is underestimate the abject stupidity of the public at large.
Wasn’t that Corazón Aquino in the Philippines?
Oh you Americans. Well some of you anyway. Don’t you know that your big neighbour to the north, a member of the G8, has had a female prime minister as well. Her name is Kim Campbell, a conservative even, and probably the best looking world leader of them all!
And never mind just that. Canada has had 3 separate female Commanders in Chief of our Canadian military and the current female CIC is also black! Her name is Michaelle Jean and she is also very good looking.
You Americans have a lot of catching up to do
As opposed to the renowned American tradition of electing the widows of former Governors/Senators/Congressmen when the guy dies suddenly? (e.g. - Representative Bono; the widow of the dead guy who beat Ashcroft in 2000; etc.)