The Jewish Chronicle
On this day: Golda Meir voted in
March 7 1969: Israel’s first female leader
March 7, 2011 09:01
March 7 1969: Israel’s first female leader
March 7, 2011 09:01After Levi Eshkol’s sudden death from a heart attack, the party chose the then 70-yearold to replace him. In doing so, the woman born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev became the first female leader in Israel and a pioneering figure for the world.
She said on being chosen: "I have faced difficult problems in the past but nothing like the one I'm faced with now in leading the country."
One of just two women to sign Israel’s declaration of independence, she had served many roles in Israel’s birth and early years, from Zionist activist to negotiatior with the British mandate authorities and later foreign minister.
She briefly served as Israel’s ambassador to the Soviet Union (before the USSR cut ties with Israel) and in 1949 was elected to the Knesset.
