Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Prime Minister Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Ceylonese 1916-2000
Place of DeathColombo, Sri Lanka
The first woman in the history of the world to hold the office of Prime Minister. In 1940 she married Solomon Bandaranaike, who in 1956 became prime minister. After his assassination in 1959, she assumed the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that Bandaranaike had formed. When the SLFP won the elections of 1960, she became prime minister. She pursued the pro-Buddhist, pro-Sinhalese socialist policies that her husband had begun, but she gradually lost support and was defeated at the polls in 1965. Returning to power in 1970, she nationalized certain industries and made the country a republic under the name of Sri Lanka. However, her government was plagued with ethnic dissension and economic deterioration. The SLFP was decisively defeated in the elections of 1977, and although she retained her seat in the National Assembly, Bandaranaike was forced to step down as prime minister. Charged with abuse of power while prime minister, she was expelled from the National Assembly and barred from politics in 1980. Her right to engage in politics was reinstated in 1986. In November 1994 Bandaranaike's daughter, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, was elected president as the candidate of the People's Alliance, a coalition party that included the Sri Lanka Freedom Party headed by Bandaranaike. After her election, she appointed her mother prime minister of the new government.