Sirimavo Bandaranaike
1916 – 2000
Sri Lankan

Prime minister. After her husband was assassinated, she took his place as head of the Freedom Party. She was elected prime minister, the first woman in world history to hold this office, and was elected again following independence. Like Cory Aquino of the Philippines, who came later, her career expressed immense courage as well as women's rights.

Contemporaries
1866–1925Sun Yixian
1861–1941Rabindranath Tagore
1883–1959Kitaoji Rosanjin
1879–1950Maharishi Ramana
1926–1998Pol Pot
1879–1949Sarojini Naidu
1895–1986Jiddu Krishnamurti
1888–1960Toyohiko Kagawa
1919–2008Sir Edmund Hillary
1909–1959Errol Flynn
1872–1950Sri Aurobindo