First women president in the world

Isabel Peron of Argentina was the world's first woman president. She took office in 1974, becoming the first woman to lead a South American country. Like many other women who have become head of state, Peron was the wife of a previous president, Juan Peron, and she actually served as vice president during his third term.

When Juan Peron died in office of a heart attack, she assumed the presidency. But unlike Peron's second wife, Eva Peron, who became immortalized by the play "Evita," Isabel Peron was not popular and she was overthrown by a coup d'etat in March 1976.