Elisabeth Borne, a 61-year-old engineer, was named French prime minister on Monday, becoming only the second woman to hold the position after Edith Cresson, a Socialist, who lasted less than a year in the job in the early 1990s.
Borne is one of nearly a dozen female political leaders in Europe, where Ursula von der Leyen became the first president of the European Commission in December 2019.
We look at the situation across the continent:
– Denmark –
Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen became her country’s youngest-ever prime minister in June 2019 when she was elected premier at the age of 41.
Denmark’s first woman prime minister was Helle Thorning-Schmidt, also from the Social Democrats, who served from 2011 to 2015.
– Estonia –
Former EU auditor Kersti Kaljulaid, 52, became the first female president of the Baltic state of Estonia in October 2016. The position is a largely ceremonial one.
Kaja Kallas in January 2021 became Estonia’s first woman prime minister. Her father Siim Kallas was prime minister from 2002-2004.
– Finland –
In December 2019, Sanna Marin, a Social Democrat, became the youngest sitting prime minister in the world at the age of 34.
She is Finland’s third female prime minister.
– Greece –
Katerina Sakellaropoulou, a trailblazing lawyer, was elected Greece’s first female president in January 2020.
While the presidency is a mainly ceremonial role in Greece, Sakellaropoulou had already broken new ground in the judiciary by become president of the country’s top court in 2018.
– Hungary –
Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former minister for family policy, was elected Hungary’s first ever woman president in March 2022.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial role.