List of female premiers in Canada

A total of twelve women have served, or are serving, as the first minister of a Canadian government. Of these, one was prime minister of the country, eight were premiers of a province and three were premiers of a territory.

Women have been eligible to become premier since they first gained the right to vote, beginning in 1916 in Manitoba and extending to all jurisdictions when Quebec allowed women to vote in 1940 (the Northwest Territories did not allow women to vote until later, but it did not have premiers at the time). Women soon began to be appointed to cabinet positions, starting with Mary Ellen Smith in British Columbia in 1921, but it was not until decades later that women began to serve as leaders of a major party. Hilda Watson became the first woman to lead her party to victory in a general election in 1978. However, since Yukon did not have premiers at the time, and Watson did not win her riding, her successor became the first Government Leader of the Yukon. The first female premier was Rita Johnston in 1991 in British Columbia.

Today, every Canadian jurisdiction has had at least one female premier except for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The most female first ministers at one time was six, for 277 days from 11 February to 15 November 2013. These six included the premiers of Canada's four most populated provinces, so during that time approximately 88% of Canadians had a female premier. The longest-serving female premier is Christy Clark, who has served as premier of British Columbia for over six years, since 14 March 2011.

Two of the eleven female premiers earned their positions through the consensus government systems that lack political parties. Of the remaining female premiers, three won the title by defeating an incumbent premier in a general election. The rest won the title through a party leadership race, although several then went on to win a general election as the incumbent premier.

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