Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil – 64, she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff of Brazil, appointed by then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “I would like parents who have daughters to look straight in their eyes and tell them, ‘Yes, a woman can,’” Dilma Rousseff said following her victory in Brazil’s runoff election in October 2010. When she took the reins of the world’s fourth largest democracy on Jan. 1, 2011, she became the South American country’s first female President. Her win, a victory for women leaders everywhere.