Sigurðardóttir, Jóhanna
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (yōhä´nä sĬ´gürŧħärtō´tĬr), 1942–, Icelandic political leader. A former flight attendant (1962–71) and union organizer, she was elected to Iceland's parliament in 1978 and became social affairs minister in 1987. She ran unsuccessfully for leader of the Social Democratic party in 1994 and subsequently resigned her cabinet post. In 1995 she formed the National Movement, which five years later merged with the Social Democrats and two other center-left parties to form the Social Democratic Alliance. She regained her previous ministerial post in 2007 and became known for her work for the rights of handicapped, aged, and disadvantaged citizens. When the nation's economic crisis led to the government's collapse early in 2009, an interim center-left minority government was formed and Sigurðardóttir became prime minister. Iceland's first woman prime minister, she also was the modern world's first openly gay head of state. Her center-left coalition won a majority in the Apr., 2009, parliamentary elections. She did not run for reelection in 2013 and retired from politics.