A Brief History of Women in Power

Corazon Aquino, Philippines
After the assassination of her charismatic husband, the pious Catholic widow Corazon Aquino won over the public and overthrew the dictatorial regime widely blamed for his murder. In a spectacle that added the phrase people power to the global lexicon, millions of supporters took to the streets to ensure Aquino's eventual rise to the office of the President in February 1986. Though tested by several attempted military coups and other setbacks, she managed to preserve the democracy her husband had died for. She was named TIME's Person of the Year in 1986 — the first woman to receive the designation since Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.

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