Dilma Rousseff

Rousseff was married to journalist Cláudio Galeno Linhares from 1968 to 1981. They had been separated since the early 1970s but the divorce was finalised in 1981.

Soon after her separation with Galeno, she married Carlos Franklin Paixão de Araújo, with whom she had her first and only child, a girl, Paula Rousseff. They couple divorced in 2000.

She enjoys history and opera, and at one point of time, was obsessed with Greek mythology, and even enrolled herself in a Greek theatre.

Rousseff was born in Belo Horizonte in southeast Brazil to Bulgarian lawyer, Pedro Rousseff and Dilma Jane da Silva, a schoolteacher. She was brought up in an upper-middle-class household with two siblings - Igor and Zana.

She received education at 'Our Lady of Sion' and then 'Central State High School', where she was first introduced to the local political scene by the journalist Cláudio Galeno Linhares, whom she would go on to marry in 1968.

As a teenager, she became actively involved in the resistance against dictatorship (established by a military coup) with her left-wing ideals> She joined 'Worker's Politics', and later became a part of the 'National Liberation Command', a militant group.

She was arrested on January 16, 1970, in a bar in São Paulo and was tortured in different ways including usage of electric shocks, and was jailed for almost three years. She was released at the end of 1972 when she started her life anew at Porto Alegre.

Having resumed her education again, she completed her graduation in Economics from the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University in 1977, and slowly, with the grip of dictatorship weakening, became active in politics again.

Between 1986 and 1988, she was appointed the Secretary of Finance for Porto Alegre, and later, in 1993, she assumed the role of Secretary of Mines, Energy, and Communication, where her contribution was impressive, with energy efficiency and power production increasing considerably within Rio Grande do Sul.

Rousseff was appointed the Minister of Mines and Energy in 2003 by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva when he became the President. In 2005, she was appointed the Chief of Staff, and since Lula's term as the president was limited to two years by constitutional law, he began grooming her to be his successor.

By 2010, she had fully committed herself to the presidential campaign, with promises of maintaining Lula's reforms and policies, and widespread support.

On October 31, 2010, with over 56% valid votes, she won the election, and on January 1, 2011, she was sworn in as the president of Brazil.

Dilma Vana Rousseff spent the four years of her administration in the upheaval of the living condition of the poor and Brazilian citizens in general. Statistically, more than 36 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty, job opportunities were created, and the minimum wage saw a considerable hike of 72% above inflation.

Her four-year term promised to generate R$ 635 billion for health and education resources in 35 years, and also R$368 billion were added to the Social Fund.

In Forbe's list of the most powerful women in the world, she was ranked 3rd in 2011, 2nd in 2013, and 4th in 2014. In their list of the most powerful people in the world, she was ranked 16th, and as a woman held the 3rd position.

She received the 'Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award' in New York, and the very next day, she became the first woman ever to open a session at the 'United Nations General Assembly'.

Other international recognitions include the awards of 'Cordon of the Order of Stara Planina' in Bulgaria (2011) and 'Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic' in Spain (2014).