I think there has been a lack of female political figures in this thread. What about Edith Wilson, President Woodrow Wilson's wife, who secretly ruled as the president of the United States when her husband suffered a stroke!
In 1919, Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side and in a weakened state. So his wife, was forced to step up to the role of helping him govern.
She was told that Wilson was no longer capable of exercising many of his presidential duties, Edith was given two strict directives by his doctors: if Woodrow was to leave office, it would probably kill him, however, if he was burdened by government affairs, that would also probably kill him
Placed in the position of keeper of the presidency in a time before women were even allowed to vote, Edith kept his weakened state hidden from his staffers and the nation for six weeks. And was left largely in power over a country that will one day become the most powerful nation in the world for 2 years from 1919 to 1921!
Although in her memoirs, Edith claims that she only decided which matters to bring to Woodrow's attention and which could be resolved without him, this is actually a LOT of power. She also fought against having the vice president take office in Woodrow's stead. Many have thus referred to her as the first female president of the United States.
She was also vastly credited to be the driving force behind giving women the rights to vote!
This is because women was granted the rights to vote in 1920 and she secretly took over the role of the president of the US in 1919. Coincidence? I think not.
Considering Wilson was one of the worst presidents in US history, I wonder how many of his dictatorial policies she was involved in. Was she the one that passed alcohol prohibition? Wilson is the genius who allowed the military industrial complex to take hold of the US.
Though if it weren't for him we wouldn't have Bitcoin. Considering he handed all of the US control of money to the Federal Reserve. Though, who knows, maybe we would have had Bitcoin a lot sooner.