As major news organizations such as CBS News are reporting, two women have recently won elections to become the first female national elected leaders on their respective continents: Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.

There have been notable women leaders before, of course -- Golda Meir of Israel, Indira Gandhi of India, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, and Corazon Aquino of the Philippines come quickly to mind. Nonetheless, it’s nice to that South America and Africa finally have their first nationally elected leaders now.

Hopefully this is a positive sign of things to come, and an indication that gender equality is starting to become more of a reality little by little, one country and one leader at a time.