After being appointed to the cabinet as planning and finance minister, she kept those portfolios on becoming the first woman prime minister of Mozambique. And her recent outreach to Jackie McDonald, the leader of the illegal Ulster Defence Association who plays golf with her husband, was deemed to be an outreach too far.Luisa Diogo Prime Minister of Mozambique Age: 47 In power since February 2004Diogo represents the younger generation of the Mozambique Liberation Front who did not take part in the armed struggle for independence. The former academic lawyer was elected unopposed to a second term as her popularity ratings went through the roof. Although the presidency is an honorific post, she has built on the record of her predecessor, Mary Robinson, to carve out a political and diplomatic space, saying her mission was "building bridges". But two incidents have landed her in hot water: she outraged Unionists last January by comparing how some Protestant children in Northern Ireland had been brought up to hate Catholics to the way German children had been encouraged to hate Jews under the Nazis.
Then began a period of revolving doors in which the two women have dominated Bangladeshi politics. In 1996 it was the turn of Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the founder of Bangladesh, to win back power. Five years later, in 2001, Khaleda Zia succeeded her rival after another general election. There is no love lost between the two women, who on one occasion refused to shake hands in the presence of the former US president Jimmy Carter.Mary McAleese President of Ireland Age: 54 In power since 1997Mary McAleese, Ireland's second woman president, is no stranger to political rough and tumble having been raised in the tough Belfast area of Ardoyne.
Even when her husband was in power, she stayed at home looking after the children. In 1983, when limited political activity was allowed under the rule of General Hussain Ershad, Khaleda Zia was appointed vice-chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Eight years later, she was elected the first woman prime minister of Bangladesh in a democratic election. She came to power in the rollercoaster world of Philippines politics when former film star President Joseph Estrada was toppled in a "people's revolution".Begum Khaleda Zia Prime Minister of Bangladesh Age: 60 In power from 1991 to 1996, and again since 2001Not exactly a desperate housewife, but until the assassination of her husband, the military dictator President Ziaur Rahman, in an abortive coup in 1981, Khaleda Zia had taken little interest in either politics or public life. During her first term, she overcame a coup attempt against her and a Senate investigation of her lawyer husband, Miguel, for money laundering and keeping excess campaign funds.
