Estonia Joins The Ranks Of Countries With All-Women Heads Of State
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Image: twitter
The present is female, at least in Estonia after Kaja Kallas was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Estonia recently. Her swearing-in to the top office came after Estonia’s two biggest political parties, the Centre-Right Reform Party and the Left-Leaning Centre Party, formed a coalition government on January 26, 2021. The nation of 1.3 million people is now the only country in the world where both the head of state and the head of government are women.
Stressing on gender balance in her cabinet, Kallas gave important portfolios to several women leaders. The Reform Party’s Keit Pentus-Rosimannus was named finance minister, and Eva-Maria Liimets, Estonia’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, is now the foreign minister, to name a few.
Kaja Kallas becomes first female prime minister of Estonia thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Print Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas addresses the press following her oath of office. Janis Laizans/REUTERS
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This week s post was compiled by Elena Ortiz, intern with the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Estonia Ushers in First Female Prime Minister
This week, Kaja Kallas became Estonia’s first female Prime Minister. Alongside President Kersti Kaljulaid, the Baltic country now has women serving as both the Head of Government and Head of State. Kallas is a member of the center-right Reform party and her nomination marks the end of a government headed by Juri Ratas and the far-right EKRE party, which recently collapsed in a corruption scandal. Her historic appointment also ushers in six female cabinet members, including Keit Pentus-Rosimannus as Minister of Finance and Eva-Maria Liime
Estonia’s new two-party coalition government has been sworn in with the first female prime minister since the Baltic nation regained independence in 1991.
The 15-member cabinet of prime minister Kaja Kallas a 43-year-old lawyer and a former European Parliament legislator was approved on Tuesday in the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature, after President Kersti Kaljulaid had first appointed it.
The centre-right Reform Party, chaired by Ms Kallas, and the left-leaning Centre Party, which are Estonia’s two biggest political parties, clinched a deal on Sunday to form a government replacing the previous cabinet led by Centre leader Juri Ratas which collapsed this month due to a corruption scandal.