First female leaders
Arlene Foster
Arlene Foster was elected to the Assembly in 2003, subsequently joining the DUP in 2004.
She served as Minister for the Environment from 2007 and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment from 2008.
In 2015, she was appointed Minister for Finance and Personnel and became leader of the DUP later that year.
Arlene Foster was appointed First Minister of Northern Ireland in January 2016, the youngest person to hold the post and Northern Ireland’s First female First Minister.
She once again became First Minister in 2020, before resigning in June 2021.
Michelle O'Neill
Michelle O'Neill served as the First female Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone from 2010 to 2011.
In 2007, she was elected as a Sinn Féin candidate to the Northern Ireland Assembly, representing Mid-Ulster.
She served on the Health and Education Committees and, in 2011, became Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development.
In 2016, she was appointed Minister for Health. She became Vice-President of Sinn Féin in February 2018 and, following the restoration of devolution in 2020, was appointed deputy First Minister.
