Lise Girardin

Lise Girardin (15 February 1921 – 16 October 2010) was a Swiss politician. A member of the Free Democratic Party, she was the first woman to be elected mayor of Geneva and the first woman named to the Council of States.[1][2]

Lise Girardin
Member of the Council of States
In office
29 November 1971 – 20 November 1975
Member of the Grand Council of Geneva
In office
November 1961 – November 1973
Mayor of Geneva
In office
1 June 1975 – 31 May 1976
In office
1 June 1972 – 31 May 1973
In office
1 June 1968 – 31 May 1969
Personal details
Born(1921-02-15)15 February 1921
Geneva, Switzerland
Died16 October 2010(2010-10-16) (aged 89)
Political partyFree Democratic Party

Biography

Lise Girardin was born on 15 February 1921 in Geneva. She graduated from the University of Geneva and became a teacher. In 1960, the Canton of Geneva granted women the right to vote.[3] Girardin, who already held a lower judgeship, ran for and won the 1961 election to the Grand Council of Geneva. In 1968, she was elected mayor, the first woman to hold that post.[2]

After a referendum of 1971, Switzerland granted women's suffrage at the federal level.[4] In the 1971 elections later that year, Girardin was elected to the Council of States while 10 others were elected to the National Council, making them the first women to sit in the Federal Assembly.[5]

Girardin left the Council of States after the 1975 Swiss federal election but remained active in politics. She served one more term as Mayor of Geneva and participated in various referendums. Girardin died on October 16, 2010.[6]

References
  1. "First female member of Senate dies". swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  2. "First Swiss Woman Wins Federal Office". New York Times. 1 November 1971.
  3. "Swiss fact: some Swiss women had to wait until 1991 to vote". Le News. 25 November 2017.
  4. "Non! Nein! No! A Country That Wouldn't Let Women Vote Till 1971". National Geographic. 26 August 2016.
  5. Bewes, Diccon (2012). Swisscellany. Schwabe AG. ISBN 9783905252514.
  6. "Lise Girardin im Alter von 89 Jahren gestorben" (in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 19 October 2010.
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