Who was the last female prime minister

As of February 2026, Indira Gandhi remains both the first and the last (and only) female Prime Minister of India. She served in this role from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984. Despite India being one of the earliest countries to have a female head of government, no other woman has held the position of Prime Minister in the nearly 40 years since Indira Gandhi's death. This represents a significant gap in female representation at the highest level of Indian government, especially given India's large population and the presence of several influential women politicians in various parties.

Several women have held other high positions in Indian politics, including serving as Chief Ministers of various states (such as Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, and Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan), as well as other important roles like President (Pratibha Patil, 2007-2012) and Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Meira Kumar, 2009-2014). However, the Prime Minister's post has remained exclusively male since Indira Gandhi's assassination. This reality stands in contrast to several other South Asian countries where women have led governments, including Bangladesh (Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia), Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto), and Sri Lanka (Sirimavo Bandaranaike). The absence of another female Prime Minister in India continues to be a topic of discussion regarding gender representation in the country's highest political office.