Jenny Shipley of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers. Shipley led the National Party into the 1999 election, hoping to become the first woman to be elected prime minister in her own right. However, she was defeated by the Labour Party, also led by a woman, Helen Clark. This election was a significant moment in history for New Zealand as it was the first (and to date, only) New Zealand election in which the leaders of both major parties were women. Shipley served as the Leader of the Opposition until
Prime Minister of Sweden Prime Minister of Sweden The Prime Minister (, literally "Minister of the State") is the head of government in Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a Prime Minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the King, in whom the executive authority was vested. Louis Gerhard De Geer, the architect behind the new bicameral Riksdag of 1866 that replaced the centuries-old Riksdag of the Estates, became the first officeholder in 1876. The current Prime Minister of Sweden is Stefan Löfven, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who