Josi Meier

Meier was born in 1926 in Dagmersellen in the Canton of Lucerne. Her parents were Nicholas Meier, a hotel porter, and Josi Kumschick, a waitress and housewife.[1] During her childhood, the family moved to the city of Lucerne.[2] She attended the University of Geneva to study law and became a registered lawyer in 1952.[3]

From 1959 to 1971, Meier was a member of the secondary school board in Lucerne and was a strong supporter of women's suffrage.[1] In 1971—the same year that Switzerland granted women the right to vote—Meier was voted into Lucerne's cantonal parliament and subsequently, as a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, became one of the first 11 women elected to the Swiss lower house, the National Council.[3] During her term in the National Council, she chaired the Commission for Foreign Affairs and was a delegate to the Council of Europe.[2] She was elected to Switzerland's senate, the Council of States, in 1983, and became its first female president (speaker) in 1991.[3] She held the post of president until 1992.[2] Meier left the Council of States and retired from Swiss politics in 1995.[3]

Meier died in Lucerne on 4 November 2006, a decade after being diagnosed with cancer. She continued practicing law until her death.[3] Her political achievements earned her the nicknames of the "Grand Old Lady" of Swiss politics and the "old warhorse of Lucerne".[3] She was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Fribourg in 1991 and the University of Lucerne in 1994.[2] As an advocate of women's participation in politics, she once declared that "Frauen gehören ins Haus, ins Bundeshaus!" (English: "Women belong in the house ... in the House of Parliament!").[1][3]

• Biography of Josi J. Meier on the website of the Swiss Parliament.