The late Benazir Bhutto
The video has been doing the rounds on social media today. In it the scholar Reza Aslan responds to a rant delivered by the comedian and professional sayer of daft things about vaccines and religion Bill Maher suggesting Islam stands for “circumcision for women, not respecting the rights of women, not respecting the rights of gay people.”
The fact that caught my attention was one Aslan used to illustrate that not all Muslim majority countries treat women like Saudi Arabia does: eight of them (including the largest Indonesia) have been led by women.
Tansu Çiller, elected prime minister of Turkey, 1993-1996
Benazir Bhutto, elected prime minister of Pakistan 1988-1990, 1993-1996
Mame Madior Boye, appointed prime minister of Senegal, 2001-2002.
Megawati Sukarnoputri, elected president of Indonesia, 2001-2004
Khaleda Zia, elected prime minister of Bangladesh, 1991-1996 and 2001-2006
Sheikh Hasina, elected prime minister of Bangladesh 2009-
Roza Otunbayeva, president of Kyrgyzstan, 2010- 2011
Atifete Jahjaga, elected president of Kosovo 2011-
Interesting that half of them had fathers or husbands that ruled the country before them