Exploring theories of female leadership in South and Southeast Asia

The author examines highly placed, elected and appointed, women in South and Southeast Asian politics. Specifically, attention is concentrated on female prime ministers of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the current president of the Philippines and the female party leadership in Burma and Bangladesh. She explores some of the key variables in the political prominence of Asian women and tries to see if any of these variables are distinctive to women and assesses what, if any, advantages or disadvantages women have as leader in South and Southeast Asia. (DÜI-Sen)