All the talk in the news of wannabe-dictators and “political strongmen” has got me thinking: has the strongman ever been a strongwoman? That is, have there been any female dictators? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one.
By “dictator”, I mean both the literal, outright dictators like Stalin and Idi Amin, and the “we’re totally still a democracy, I swear” autocrats like Putin and Erdogan; I’m not counting hereditary monarchy.
Indira Gandhi was rather heavy-handed and ruthless in her second turn as PM, leading, in part, to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.
I’ve heard Thatcher called as much, but not valid in reality of course.
So Indira Gandhi is the only one I can think of.
The empress of China at the turn of the century?
There’s also the allegation that Madam Mao was calling the shots when her husband was not completely “with it”, but that may have just been propaganda against the “Gang of Four” by the other side.
Imelda Marcos maybe? It was her husband who ruled the Philippines under martial law for almost a decade, but she was the effective ruler for a while when her husband suffered from Lupus (you can’t say it’s never Lupus) and she seemed to hold a lot of political power even before then, heading many social projects and frequently acting as an official representative of the country in foreign visits (she was the de facto Vice President for much of Ferdinand’s presidency). She was his campaign manager during his elections as well. She was also reportedly instrumental in getting martial law initiated.
Maybe not exactly what the OP is looking for, but close in my opinion.
I think that would have been the Empress Dowager Cixi. However, the OP wanted to exclude hereditary monarchies.
For the modern era you might have to scale the search down to warlords, like Bibi Ayesha, or mob bosses, like Griselda Blanco.
So that’s a no then?