in addition to president banda of malawi in commonwealth africa president monique ohsanbellepeau of mauritius was also serving as head of state commonwealth secretariat she assumed the presidency after he died of heart attack in becoming the first female president in malawi s history this was relatively short lived two years from to these range from arguments that women are unsuited to decisionmaking and are their own worst enemies to the gender roles that define what women and men do effectively excluding women from decisionmaking