As Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom compete to become the UK's second ever female prime minister here is a look at some other leading women around the world.
Angela Merkel
The German chancellor was named the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. She has been leading Germany for more than a decade, having been sworn into power on November 22 2005. Time magazine, in naming her Person Of The Year in 2015, said: "No one in Europe has held office longer - or to greater effect - in a world defined by steadily receding barriers."
Hillary Clinton
The former first lady is the Democrat frontrunner in the battle for US president, who will have to battle Donald Trump for the top job. Mrs Clinton is one place behind Mrs Merkel in the Forbes ranking of powerful women. A trained lawyer, she has served as secretary of state in the Obama administration and has the support of the current President in her race for the White House.
Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland's First Minister, Ms Sturgeon is leader of the SNP, the biggest party in Scotland. She appeared the natural successor to Alex Salmond when he resigned in the wake of the 2014 No vote on Scottish independence, having had her profile boosted as she took to the streets during the campaign. She was the youngest candidate in Scotland when she first stood for Westminster in the 1992 general election, fighting the Glasgow Shettleston seat.
Aung San Suu Kyi
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is Burma's de facto leader. She holds the country's specially created post of state counsellor - her two sons' British citizenship prohibiting her from becoming president because of the country's military-era constitution. Ms Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party swept to victory in 2015, endured years of house arrest and harassment by military rulers while continuing her non-violent campaign to unseat them and usher in the first civilian government in more than five decades.
Arlene Foster
The First Minister in Northern Ireland is the first ever female to take Stormont's top job. A lawyer by vocation, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone Assembly member had already demonstrated herself a skilful political operator in the Ulster Unionist party before joining the ranks of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Dalia Grybauskaite
The Lithuanian president has been in post for almost seven years, having previously held the roles of finance and vice foreign minister. She was appointed EU commissioner responsible for financial programming and budget in 2004. She has a doctoral degree in economics and speaks four languages.
Sheikh Hasina
The prime minister of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh most recently came to office in January 2014, having first been elected in 1996. She came to the UK following the killing of her father in 1975 before returning home, where she has been the subject of a number of assassination attempts. She is described on her official government website as a "staunch crusader against fundamentalism, militancy and terrorism".
Margaret Thatcher
No list of leading women would be complete without the Iron Lady. Twenty-six years after she left Number 10 Downing Street no other female has followed in her footsteps. The former Tory leader died in 2013.
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