THE REFORMATION ROLLS ON...:

In the late 1980s, Pakistani clerics beseeched Indonesia to pray for them after Benazir Bhutto became prime minister and the first woman to govern a Muslim majority nation.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa, now a cabinet minister in Indonesia, recalls the incident with some irony. The clerics told Abdurrahman Wahid, who would later become Indonesia's president, that Pakistan would be "unlucky for being ruled by a woman," she said.  

Parawansa, 52, is one of nine female ministers in the world's most populous Muslim nation, exemplifying the country's success in breaking gender and religious stereotypes.

At 26 percent, Indonesia has the largest ratio of female ministers among the 10 biggest countries based on population size, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union or IPU, a global organization of parliaments based in Geneva.

Women have made grounds in Indonesia from politics to central banking. High profile officials include Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi -- a first in the country's history -- and Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti. Rosmaya Hadi became Bank Indonesia's only female deputy governor this year.

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