Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike

Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias (1916– ), prime minister of Sri Lanka and the world's first woman premier. After the assassination of her husband, Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike, in 1959, she led his Sri Lanka Freedom party to victory in 1960, continuing his pro-Buddhist and pro-Sinhalese policies. She lost office in 1965 but returned in 1970 with a landslide victory for her left-oriented coalition. Conservatives defeated her in 1977.

See also: Sri Lanka.