Ministry of defence is one department in a Government setup where the system is divided into various parts to handle different issues of the society. The ministry of defence is liable to handle matters related to defence and strategy. A minister of defence is the head of the ministry of defence. It is the position in the cabinet of ministries which is responsible to look after the departments which are built specifically to look into the matters related to military, armed forces, Air-force and alike of the country. Traditionally, this part of the cabinet has been given to a male in the past, but quite recently the trend has been changing and more and more women are coming at the front to play the role in the most efficient way.

The first woman to have been given the responsibility was Sirimavo Bandaranaik, who was the then Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1960s. Here is the list of all those courageous women who have been there at the helm of ministry of defence:

1. María Dolores de Cospedal García, Spain, Minister of Defence (2016)
María Dolores born in 1965 has been there in the political arena for last many years. She is been serving the country’s Department of defense since November 2016. She has also been the Secretary General of the People’s party from June 2008. In 2011 Regional elections, she was chosen as the candidate of people’s party for presidency of Castile-La Mancha. Later from June 2011 to July 2015, she served as the president of Castile-La Mancha and she was the third person to have obtained the position.

2. Tomomi Inada, Japan, Minister of Defence (2016)
Tomomi Inada born in 1959 is by profession a lawyer and politician of Japan. Currently she is serving as the Defense minister of the country who assumed office in August 2016. In the national legislature, DIET of the country, she has served as the Chairwoman of the {Policy Research council in her fourth term of the Liberal democratic party. She took up her graduation degree from the University of Waseda in 1981 and became a lawyer in the year 1985. Later on in 2005, the Shinzo Abe nominated her as a candidate of LDP and in 2014; she got elected as the chairperson of LDP.

3. Adiatu Djaló Nandigna, Guinea Bissau, Minister of Defence (2015)
Adiatu Djaló Nandigna, born in 1958, November is a Politian by profession and has served as the Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau from February 2012 to April 2012. In Guinea Bissau coup d'état in 2012, her Government was overthrown and she was arrested in 2013. Later on in 2015, she once again came to power as the defence minister of the country. In 2008 she served as the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. She was also the first Prime minister to be appointed by her antecedent and the first female to be the holder of the office.

4. Marise Payne, Australia, Minister of Defence (2015)
Marise Payne is 53rd Defence minister of Australia, who took the oath of office in 2015 September. Before she began her journey as Defence minister of the country, she had served for two years as the Defence minister of the country. During her two decades of parliamentary experience she has served as the Shadow Minister for Council of Australian Government (COAG), shadow minister for Indigenous development and employment and shadow minister for Housing. She has been a member of Joint Standing Committee on Foreign affairs, Trade and defence for 12 years.

5. Andreja Katič, Slovenia, Minister of Defence (2015)
Andreja Katič born in 1969, graduated from the University Maribor in law. After she completed her law degree, she started working with the municipality of Velenje. There she was the head of the commission for legal and legislative issues and actively took part in various works related to the Association of municipalities and towns of Slovenia and association of urban municipalities of Slovenia. Besides that she had also been a member of University of Maribor’s Administrative board and President of the Slovenian municipalities, Association of Secretaries.

6. Tina Khidasheli, Georgia, Minister of Defence (2015-16)
Tina Khidasheli, born in 1973, June is a famous politician and Jurist of Georgia. She became the Defence Minister of the country in 2015, May. Before that she has been an active member of the Republican Party and an activist of the civil society. She was the first ever female Defence Minister of the country. She gave her resignation, leaving the defence ministry of the country after her party left the Georgian Dream coalition. The chairman of the Georgian Parliament, David Usupashvili, is the husband of Khidasheli.

7. Marina Pendeš, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Minister of Defence (2015)
Marina Pendeš born in 1964, August is the defence minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina and has been in the political arena for last many years. She took up her graduation degree from the Military Technical Academy of Zagreb in electrical engineering. From 1988 to 1992, she has been an independent constructor in Travnik in the military industry. Beside that she has also been a member of the Military Intelligence service and has been a part of the Croatian Defence council during the war of Bosnia. From the year 2004 to 2015, she has worked as the Deputy defence Minister.

8. Roberta Pinotti, Italy, Minister of Defence (2014)
Roberta Pinotti born in 1961 and is a known face in the political field of Italy. She has served as the defence minister of the country from February 2014. She has taken up a degree in modern Literature and had taught Italian in high schools. She embarked on her political career in 1980s as a District Counsellor. And later on she joined the Democratic party of the Left, where from 1999 to 2001, she held the position of Provincial secretary. Roberta has two daughters.

9. Mimi Kodheli, Albania, 2013- Minister of Defence (2013)
Mimi Kodheli born in 1964 is the Defence minister of Albania and is the first woman to have held the position. She became the defence minister of the country in 2013 September. She has two sons and is married to Leka. From the University of Verona, she has received a doctorate degree in Economics. She has completed her graduation from the University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics. In the year she entered into the field of politics in 2002 and that was the time when she was appointed as the Mayor of the Tirana Municipality.

10. Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand, Minister of Defence (2013-14)
Yingluck Shinawatra born in 1967 is by profession a businesswoman and a politician. She is a member of the Pheu Thai Party and she has also served as the Prime Minister of the country. She was elected as the 28th Prime Minster of the country in the year 2011. She is the youngest and the first Prime Minster of Thailand in over 60 years. During her tenure she campaigned for various issues including Poverty and income tax reduction.