But these days former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is being viewed by many as proof that female leaders are no better than male ones.

Having lost elections for a third term almost two years ago after dismissal for widespread corruption and mismanagement, the 45-year-old Bhutto is now fighting for her political survival and her life. Pakistani investigators uncovered foreign bank accounts in her and her family's name worth a staggering $1.4 to 1.6 billion. Ample evidence suggests the money came from an extensive pattern of kickbacks from foreign companies during the Bhutto Administration, most received by the prime minister's husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Also, Zardari has been imprisoned on charges that he murdered his wife's brother.

The Bhuttos' troubles are not just in Pakistan. In mid-July, a court in Switzerland, where the couple has bank accounts, charged Zardari with money-laundering, and was preparing to charge his wife also.

Although she admits to being wealthy and having bank accounts abroad, Bhutto has denied having looted money. Bhutto believes she and Zardari are being framed by her successor, Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. In the Western limelight, Bhutto has blamed her problems on sexism: "I feel that the venom directed against me in the corruption charges, or the so-called murder charges against my husband, are due to the fact that I had challenged the entrenched culture of tradition and pride which predominated in the subcontinent for centuries,'' Bhutto said during the recent first summit of the Council of Women World Leaders at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, as reported in Reuters.

But most Pakistani female activists are not among Bhutto's defenders. Rahila Tiwana, a former student leader in Bhutto's party, said Bhutto herself benefited from that "centuries-old system of the subcontinent" she now blames for her problems, having inherited political power from her father.

"Bhutto has always tried to earn people's sympathies by portraying herself as bereaved," said Tiwana.

Many female activists were bitterly disappointed by the Bhutto regimes. They had hoped the election of a woman would mean dramatic changes in this ultra-conservative Islamic nation. Although Pakistan's 1973 constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of race, sex or religion, women face legal discrimination in many areas: Rape victims must produce four witnesses or face imprisonment -- and even death by stoning -- for adultery; a woman cannot marry without a male guardian's permission; a wife married to a foreigner cannot pass on citizenship to her husband or child. Honour killings against women for alleged adultery, domestic violence and rape are serious problems.

Under Bhutto, Pakistan became a signatory of the International Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, but the situation for women didn't improve, said activists. A newly-formed Women Rights' Committee, comprised of women's activists and government officials, presented proposals to the government, but none were ever implemented, according to the committee's head, Rashida Patel, head of the Pakistan Women Lawyers Association.

"On a national level, and particularly on a woman's level, the Bhutto government disappointed us," said Anis Haroon, founder of the Women's Action Forum. "Although we felt more space during her regime, she did nothing in particular for women. We made proposals several times to the Bhutto government to change [discriminatory] laws, but in vain."

Activists charge that Bhutto did not try hard enough to push through legislation that would reestablish a quota of women's seats in parliament. Only one percent of Pakistan's parliament is female.

But others argue that the failure to pass pro-women's legislation lay with the legislature, and that Bhutto's fragile coalition government included several conservative religious parties protective of any changes in Islamic laws. Moreover, these supporters add, under Bhutto the lives of women did improve: They were appointed for the first-time as judges on higher courts; a five percent women's quota was set in government jobs; separate police stations for women were established; a campaign against domestic violence began on electronic media; and a women's bank was established with branches nationwide.

"Benazir's [actions on behalf of] women were impressive in a very conservative male-dominated society," said Sheen Farrukh, former editor of a family magazine.

Bhutto's biography is of a woman who managed to reach the top within this male-dominated society. She was born into an important and wealthy political family from the backward rural area of Sindh province. Although he had two sons, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, raised his eldest daughter to continue his legacy. In 1971, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, head of the Pakistan People's Party which his daughter would later head, became prime minister on an anti-feudal and anti-capitalist platform. But six years later, he was overthrown by General Ziaul Haq after a military coup. In 1979, the new regime hanged the elder Bhutto on charges, trumped-up many believe, of harboring the murder suspect of a political opponent.

His daughter spent three years in house arrest by the martial regime. Upon her release in 1984, she fled to England where she studied at Oxford University and planned her return. Two years later, Bhutto came back to Pakistan where she was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of supporters. She was popular, not only because of her name, but because of her intellect, charismatic personality and populist image. Arrested again, Bhutto led the fight for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan from her prison cell. The tall, slim woman with the fair complexion, finely chiseled face and duppata (head covering) became an international human rights symbol.

The turning point in the country's political history came in August 1988 with General Zia-ul-Haq's death in a plane crash. General elections were held a few months later, and Bhutto won with a simple majority. Several legislatures from religious parties refused to participate in the vote to ratify Bhutto's nomination as prime minister because of her gender. Others believed that Pakistan was poised for a major transformation.

But many Pakistanis were disappointed with Bhutto's administration. She made few improvements in the staggering problems of widespread illiteracy, lack of proper medical care, and international debts -- not to mention women's problems. And there were charges of corruption, particularly involving her husband.

Less than a year before her election, Bhutto wed Asif Zardari, scion of a small political family in Sindh province, through a match arranged by her mother. Observers were surprised that Bhutto married into a family so beneath her own's wealth and prominence. But marriage was necessary in a nation where unmarried women past a certain age -- let alone those who are public figures -- are considered suspect.

"Seven days after I met Asif, we were engaged," Benazir wrote in her 1989 autobiography, Daughter of the East, written in English and still selling in Pakistan. "An arranged marriage was the price in personal choice I had to pay for the political path my life had taken."

As it would happen, the marriage would prove integral to Bhutto's political downfall.

Twenty months after serving in office, Bhutto was dismissed by the president for corruption. In 1993, the newly elected government fell and elections were held again bringing Bhutto back to office. But her new administration once again fell short of its promises, and the corruption charges resurfaced.

Zardari, who was made Federal Minister for Investment and Environment accountable only to his wife, was rumored to be receiving millions of dollars in bribes from a range of foreign corporations doing business with Pakistan, and had earned the street sobriquet of "Mr. Ten Percent." His largest deal allegedly involved a Middle East gold dealer who deposited $10 million into one of Zardari's bank accounts after the government gave him a monopoly on gold imports. Particularly troubling for many Pakistanis, who have a per capita income of about $2,000, was a $4 million opulent mansion he bought in Britain's Surrey countryside under an assumed name and about which Benazir Bhutto claims to know nothing. She has herself even suggested that perhaps he bought it for another woman. Some Bhutto supporters contend that the former prime minister is a woman wronged by her husband, who is now being unfairly blamed for his crimes.

In November 1996, Bhutto was again ousted from power for corruption, mismanagement and incompetence. Soon after, Zardari, a member of Pakistan's Senate, was jailed and faces the death penalty for allegedly approving the death of his brother-in-law. Murtaza Bhutto was killed by a police hit squad in 1996 after a family power struggle.

In February 1997 elections, Sharif was elected with a thumping majority and set up a committee to investigate his predecessor. Bhutto faces the possibility of a jail sentence, although it is unlikely, given her continued support by many.

Bhutto remains a popular figure internationally, who lectures worldwide and is often called upon by the media to represent her nation, such as during Pakistan's recent decision to detonate a nuclear bomb. Back home, Bhutto sits in the National Assembly's lower house and is an outspoken opposition leader who has decried the state of the national budget and imposition of emergency law following the nuclear bomb detonation. Her Pakistani People's Party recently joined an alliance of opposition parties to become the Pakistan Awami Itihad (Pakistan People's Alliance) that is mobilizing supporters through rallies, and hopes to bring down the government.

Although the fledgling alliance has little support due to its unclear agenda, it could become increasingly popular as Pakistanis become fed up with their nation's problems including inflation and increased lawlessness. While she has said that she is not interested in becoming prime minister again and would just like to become a "moral figure" within her party, Bhutto is still young, and her name is still revered in parts of Pakistan. Under the right conditions, she could return to power.