Regula Kägi-Diener
“We always saw ourselves as a household of women.” This striking statement by Regula Kägi-Diener not only reflects her family background but also forms a…
Ursula Keller
Ursula Keller was born in Zurich in 1959 and grew up in a traditional working-class family at a time when women in Switzerland still did…
Elisabeth Joris
Elisabeth Joris was born in 1946 in Valais and grew up in an educated middle-class environment that was politically aware and sensitive. Although her family…
Anita Fetz
Anita Fetz was born in 1957 in Basel and grew up as the eldest of three sisters in a small business household. Her parents ran…
Julia Onken
Julia Onken was born in 1942 and grew up in a family constellation marked by fractures, contradictions, and strong tensions. From an early age, she…
Ursula Nordmann
Ursula Nordmann grew up in a family environment marked by profound ruptures but also by decisive support. The daughter of a country doctor and one…
Ursula Mauch
Ursula Mauch was born in 1935 in the canton of Aargau and grew up in a family that ran a butcher’s shop. She was originally…
Elisabeth Freivogel
Elisabeth Freivogel was born in 1953 in the Upper Basel region and grew up in a working-class family. As the first academic in her family,…
Claudia Kaufmann
Claudia Kaufmann was born in 1956 in Basel and experienced her youth during a time of social upheaval. In her family, it was taken for…
Marie-Josèphe Lachat
Marie-Josèphe Lachat grew up in a small village in the Jura region with four brothers. Her parents, who supported her, shaped her life. Her childhood…
Erica Kuster
Erica Kuster was born in Basel in 1941 and grew up in a bourgeois, patriarchal family in St. Gallen. Her father was a politically active…
Ruth Reusser
‘The crux of equality lies in the family. If differences are made there, they are almost impossible to undo.’ Born in Bern, Ruth Reusser was…
Ruth Dreifuss
A conversation with former Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss reveals how closely social and political change are linked. She was a member of the Swiss government…
Gabrielle Nanchen
Gabrielle Nanchen was one of the first ten women elected to the Swiss National Council in 1971. Her biography is a testament to the long…
Rosemarie Weibel
Rosemarie Weibel was born in 1962 in the Canton of Bern. Her father, a trained shoemaker, worked as a warehouseman, and her mother, a trained…
Beatrice Weber-Dürler
“Emilie Kempin-Spyri was the first private lecturer in law. And I was the second”, said Professor Beatrice Weber-Dürler in her speech at the inauguration of…
Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi
“Politics is a democratic means of achieving the common good. Politics done right.” Chiara Cortesi from Ticino began her political career in the 1980s. Despite…
Patricia Schulz
“Do you have any advice for the younger generation?” “That they organise their lives as well as possible while respecting other people and the planet.”…