Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (pronounced ), (born 4 October 1942) is a former Icelandic politician and the former Prime Minister of Iceland. She has been a politician for many years. She was Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1987–1994 and 2007–2009. She has been a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies since 1978. She has been re-elected eight times. She became Iceland's first female Prime Minister on 1 February 2009, the world's first openly gay head of government of the modern era.