When patterns break
Dynamics of change
World history
Complete overview
Biographies
Varied information
Plan of the book
One.Breakthrough on several continents
Sirimavo Bandaranaike: first woman in Ceylon
India's Èmpress' Indira Gandhi
Golda Meir takes charge
and Dalia Itzik follows
Dancer Isabel Peron takes over in Argentina
Friend of the Central African Republic's dictator: Elisabeth Domitien
Game of chance
Two.Women in politics: background, approaches, research
Glimpses back in time
The United Nations
Changing world
Political structures and actors
Three.Western industrial countries (I): women are able
in various ways
The world's first democracies
Margaret Thatcher: Conservative Iron Lady
Solitary swallows in Malta and Portugal: Agatha Barbara and Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo
Vigdis Finnbogadottir and Icelandic red stockings
Norway's M̀other', Gro Harlem Brundtland
Rising wave of feminism
Four.R̀oaring She-Tigers' in South Asia
Poor and populous South Asia
Benazir Bhutto: daughter of the East
Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh
Epilogue in India: Pratibha Patil
Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka
Dynasties and violence
Five.Equilibrists in East Asia
Manifold island realms
Cory Aquino, the Philippines' number one
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Philippines' number two
Megawati and Moslem men in Indonesia
When a dictator falls
Han Myung-sook: on her own merits in South Korea
Six.Machismo, marianismo and modernism in Latin America
Violeta Chamorro: Peace Dove in Nicaragua
Third wave of democratisation
Bolivian revolutionary: Lidia Gueiler Tejada
Janet Jagan: from Chicago to Guyana
Panama's ǹew dawn': Mireya Moscoso
Beatriz Merino: independent woman in Peru
Unlikely pioneer in Chile: Michelle Bachelet
Cristina Fernandez follows up in Argentina
Pink Wave in Costa Rica and Brazil: Laura Chinchilla and Dilma Rousseff
Behind a successful woman is a strong man
Seven.Lopsided democracies in the Caribbean
British heritage and male networks
Eugenia Charles: a Caribbean matriarch
Three Haitian women in the turmoil: Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, Claudette Werleigh and Michele Pierre-Louis
Portia Simpson-Miller: up and down in Jamaica
Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago
Male-dominated democracy
Eight.B̀ig Chiefs' in sub-Saharan Africa
Ruth Perry ends Liberia's civil war
Authoritarian rule in poor countries
Explosion in Rwanda and Burundi: Agatha Uwlingiyimana and Sylvie Kinigi
Mame Madior Boye: change of elites in Senegal
Political squeeze in Sao Tome and Principe: Maria das Neves and Maria do Carmo Silveira
Luisa Diogo: assistant to the boss in Mozambique
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the top in Liberia
Rose Rogombe, Gabon's master of ceremonies
Overshadowed by B̀ig Chiefs'
Nine.Eastern Bloc: from communism to capitalism
Liberation becomes oppression
Satellites and collapse
Croatia's Milka Planinc and Jadranka Kosor
Sh̀ock therapy' in the East
Lithuanian relay: Kazimiera Prunskiene and Dalia Grybauskaite
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, the last head of East Germany
Polish compromise: Hanna Suchocka
Latvia's queen: Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Reneta Indzhova: Bulgarian episode
Rose Revolution with Nino Burjanadze
Yulia Tymoshenko: Ukraine's Orange Princess
C̀ommunism' in Moldova: Zinaida Greceanii
Iveta Radicova, sociologist in Slovakia
Patriarchy continues
No women at the top: Russia
Ten.Western industrial countries (II): womanpower and defeat
Irish surprise: Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese
Edith Cresson: caught in a French trap
Kim Campbell: an impossible task in Canada
Ambitious Turkish economist: Tansu Ciller
Women's top two in New Zealand: Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark
Switzerland lets women in: Ruth Dreifuss, Micheline Calmy-Rey and Doris Leuthard
Finland's three national leaders: Tarja Halonen, Anneli Jaatteenmaki and Mari Kiviniemi
Angela Merkel: the world's quiet leader
Johanna Siguroardottir rescues the Saga island
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard under attack
Breakers, walls and rising tide
Eleven.Where women came to power: summary of the regional chapters
Western countries
Eastern countries (former Eastern Bloc)
Latin America and the Caribbean
Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Where women did not go to the top
Twelve.When women made it to the top: overview, variation, trends
Remarkable and limited
Favourable conditions
Well-equipped women
Struggling upwards
More or less power
Women's leadership
Woman-friendly democracy.