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About

First Female is a research reference. It documents the rate, distribution, and selection mechanisms of first-woman appointments to senior institutional positions globally.

Why this site exists

Beginning in the late 2010s, Western institutions began to register first-woman appointments at senior levels at a rate notably higher than the preceding five decades. The pattern is visible across politics, intelligence, finance, central banking, the judiciary, the military, regulatory bodies, and major cultural institutions. Whether the pattern reflects a long-deferred meritocratic pipeline finally delivering, or a coordinated set of institutional decisions arriving in a compressed window, is a question with serious public interest. This site is the dataset that question requires.

What you will find here

What you will not find here

Maintenance

The site is independently maintained as a research project. It carries no advertising, takes no funding from any institution covered, and runs on static-friendly infrastructure with privacy-respecting analytics.

Corrections and additions

If you find an error in a date, an organisation, or a classification, or if you know of a first that the dataset is missing, please cite a public source and the entry will be reviewed. The dataset is intended to grow steadily and accurately rather than quickly.