Talk:List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government

Head of State vs. Head of Government

Golda Meir and Angela Merkel were/are heads of government, not heads of state. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.164.78.166 (talk • contribs)

Dear anonymous 84.164.78.166 & any others: A Head of Government is by definition a Head of State.

From Wiktionary: "head of state (plural heads of state) The chief public representative of a nation having duties and responsibilities granted by a constitution; a monarch in a monarchy, and a president in a republic."

Therefore in future no one should be removing heads of government from this page, they belong here, as they are clearly the chief public representative. Do not be confused by the use of the term president in this definition vs. prime minister. In governments that have both a President and a Prime Minister, both are heads of state. --Skates61 (talk) 14:13, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

This last comment is, of course, complete and utter bullshit. Here in Germany, the President is the head of state, the Chancellor is the head of government. The two are clearly distinct, as in most modern democracies with such a system. That's why Merkel and Meir are not in this list. I know this is an old post, but it as it keeps coming up, I thought it should be made clear at the top of the talk page. -- Imladros (talk) 21:11, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

The comment about heads of state and heads of government being the same is totally incorrect. See Canada, for example. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.183.57.148 (talk) 19:42, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Queen Elizabeth II

Should the Queen of the UK be added to this list? In reality, although seen by most as just a figurehead, she is still the head of state according to the Constitution of the United Kingdom. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.241.134.142 (talk • contribs)

No; note the intro. It's for elected or appointed heads of state, and specifically not monarchs. —Zero Gravitas 03:57, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Why not? The title of the article is heads of state, without reference to monarchs. There is no article that includes monarchs. I think the intro should be changed to something like "all heads of state: elected, appointed or otherwise" or the title should be changed to something like "List of women elected or appointed heads of state."—Markles 16:00, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, Queen Elizabeth is a Head of State. As are most or all monarchs around the world. But what I cant get my head around is this: Am I hallucinating, or is Margaret Thatcher not on this list? As one of the most prolific and controversial female rulers, I can only imagine she has been left out to customize the image of female leaders in a more positive light. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.100.215.127 (talk) 11:16, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

• Thatcher is not a head of state, so she is not on this list. She's on the List of elected or appointed female heads of government. -LtNOWIS (talk) 11:22, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

So Canada gets to be one of the enlightened countries with a "female head of state and government" because it Queen Elizabeth II appointed a female in the position, but the UK doesn't get counted because Queen Elizabeth II herself happens to be a monarch. That makes sense.98.95.205.65 (talk) 21:39, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

I agree, it makes no sense whatsoever to exclude monarchs, if I knew how to change maps I would change the article as it currently does not have much sense to exclude Elizabeth. Mspence835 (talk) 14:50, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Why not monarchs?

I think it's valid not to include monarchs, but technically the monarch is the head of state in a lot of juridictions (and the Governor General of equivalent is their representative). So Michaele Jean, for example, was never head of state in Canada, but represented the head of state, who was and is Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. I still think it's significant and that she should be listed, but correctly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.183.57.148 (talk) 19:44, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

I can't understand the rationale behind not including monarchs, probably because no rationale is stated actually. Is it because they inherited titles? Seems arbitrary. But there are female monarchs who have been appointed and who did not get to be head of state through inheritance: in England there was Mary II (of William and Mary). Emeraude 21:46, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

My guess is that the number of monarchs would dwarve the number of civilian heads of state. On the other hand, since it's now a sortable list the "type" (elected, appointed, inherited) can be added. ~ trialsanderrors 21:52, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The reason must be that this article is meant to show the women in the politics who were elected or appointed, not born into rule.

What about elected monarchs? Enchanting catalyst (talk) 17:51, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

I would think it far more likely that, by excluding monarchs (many of whom are female) the list is less problematic for the "women are the victims" sacred cow. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.100.215.127 (talk) 11:20, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

I guess it's intended to show that various Eastern Bloc countries invented the idea of female head of state. Rather than like Ancient Egypt as it was in actuality. This article is stupid propaganda. 94.193.35.68 (talk) 02:57, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

It is highly unrepresentative missing out the monarchs, if we are to miss the monarch should we not place the highest elected official instead? Countries such as the UK and Denmark will never have an elected or appointed female head of state, yet they both have had women holding the highest government position and Queens regent. Surely they could be added, even if those since they became constitutional monarchies. Lemonade100 17:34, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

separeate elected from appointed?

What is the point of this article? If a woman was appointed interim head of the governing council for 6 mos. in 1956, that says far less about gender equality or the role of women in the country than if she were elected by a popular vote, or if her party were elected into the majority under her leadership. We exclude monarchs who merely inherit the throne; should we at least divide elected and appointed leaders into separate sections of the article? I'm rethinking how I made the map, too: should China really be colored the same as Ireland? — kwami (talk) 20:59, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

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