Last week, Julia Gillard became the Australian Deputy Prime Minister-elect after the Labor party won the election. She will take up the post in December, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Australian government. She was born in Wales, but emigrated with her family at the age of one. During the election campaign, a senior political opponent said she was unfit for office because she was ‘deliberately barren’; she is unmarried with no children. Her response was that she was used to sexist comments from dinosaur politicians.

Gillard joins a small and elite group of women world leaders, most of whom are members of the Council of Women World Leaders. Interestingly, Margaret Thatcher is not a member although surely she qualifies. It’s fascinating to read the list of 35 members; I wouldn’t have been able to name many of them. Did you know, for example, that New Zealand and Mozambique currently have female Prime Ministers while Chile, Switzerland, Finland and Liberia have female Presidents? Not forgetting President Mary McAleese in Ireland, slightly closer to home.