Women cream of Asia’s political crop

Whether they have a strong political pedigree or none, women are climbing to the top of Asian politics, writes Vishakha Desai

INDIA’S Indira Gandhi, Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia — these women leaders dominated south and south-east Asia for much of the past four decades.

Each belonged to a special class of women whose husbands or fathers were their country’s recognised founding father or long-standing political leader. However, while their dynastic links brought them to power, they were not the sole factor keeping them there.