Unveiling the Remarkable Ruth Dreifuss: A Beacon of Leadership in Swiss Politics
Already scripted a docudrama on her personal and political biography, I focused on her historical theme lines on “Women Who Dared …” relating how, where and why women are successfully elected as Presidents and Prime Ministers, as unique leadership role models.
Some time ago, I had the good fortune of an incredible meeting with Ruth Dreifuss in New York, where she was speaking on “What the world can learn from Drug Policy Changes in Switzerland,” but thats another story. Seated next to her, I asked her permission to videotape our conversation.
Do any of my readers know the historical story of how Ruth Dreifuss was elected the Swiss Chancellor — the political status of “President” in Switzerland ? I must admit, I stared in wonder, discovering who was this gentle, soft-spoken, middle aged woman before me !
It seemed important to learn how and why this woman was permitted as the member of the Swiss Executive Committee … to run Europe’s most wealthiest nation ? Did my readers know that Switzerland had actively prevented women from participating in the political arena as late as 1959 ? How many of us know that Europe’s first world modernized country women were not permitted to vote until 1971 ?
Her presidency stands as a significant status for Swiss women, when Ruth Dreifuss was elected the first Jewish woman ever to achieve this unique leadership role in Swiss political history. How many of my readers know that Switzerland was the last country to grant equal rights to Jews (where anti-Semitism had long been firmly entrenched in rigid conservatism).
For me, her political accomplishments are historical … one of the greatest achievements — as my readers become aware of her personal background on how, why and when she was voted as the first woman President of Switzerland ?
As we sat together that afternoon, my inquiring mind listened carefully to her, as I needed desperately to learn how she actually achieved her significant role in Swiss politics ? So the story I relate … traces to find those secret leadership qualities from childhood to adult embedded in Ruth Dreifuss, in order to offer a roadmap for young girls and women around the world entering the political arena !
Her childhood: The child Ruth was born on 9 January 1940 in Saint Gallen, in Eastern Switzerland, nearer the German border. Her father, Sigi Dreifuss (1899–1956) was a merchant from Endingen (Canton of Aargau), one of the two villages of old Switzerland in which Jews were permitted to live before the emancipation in 1866. It must be remembered that only 25,000 Jews were granted refuge status in Switzerland, and around 30,000 Jews were denied admission into the country.
Her mother’s family left Alsace (near Colmar) after the German annexation in 1887. She was named Jeanne Dreifuss-Bicard (1905–1962), born in Saint Gallen, and later married Sigi Dreifuss, giving birth to her daughter, Ruth on 9 January 1940, having earlier conceived her son Jean Jacques in 1936. Ruth’s older brother had a successful career as a Professor of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva.
As a girl-child, Ruth Dreifuss grew up with a deep sense of pride in her Jewish faith, having learned that the Dreifuss family came from one of the oldest Jewish families in Europe, and were forced to flee to France and later to Geneva. Her birthplace was in the eastern region of Switzerland, as the Nazi German army approached the eastern border. Her childhood was filled with uncertainties, living so close to the Nazi border, where she started noticing the loss of professional opportunities of her father and most Jewish families.
Historical Background: The history of Switzerland’s national behavior during the Second World War had it’s bright and dark sides, including the export of weapons of war to Nazi Germany, the acquisition and plundered Nazi gold and its official refugee policy. When the World War II ended, the Swiss banks made little effort to inform possible Jewish heirs of the dormant assets of Holocaust survivors and victims.
As a neutral state bordering Germany, Switzerland was relatively easy to reach for refugees from Nazi Germany, but Switzerland’s refugee laws, especially with respect to fleeing Jews were strict and caused controversy since the end of World War II.
For reasons that are still uncertain, Hitler never ordered the invasion of Switzerland and one theory is that a neutral Switzerland would be useful to hide Nazi gold, and serve as a German refuge for war criminals in case of defeat. This explains one of the reasons for Germany’s continued recognition of Switzerland’s neutrality.
Her Girlhood: Her family move to the capital city of Berne between 1942 -1945, during the war to get away from possible German incursions, before moving and relocating in Geneva, where she and her older brother continued their education.
Young Adult: With a commercial diploma from a college in Geneva, Ruth Dreifuss worked briefly as an assistant/hotel secretary at the Ticino hotel in 1958–1959, like most independent, ambitious young girls in Switzerland.
After dabbling in social work, she found a job as a reporter and later becoming a professional journalist for Swiss Union of Cooperatives Weekly, serving as a deputy editor of Coopération. The weekly publication of the Swiss Union of Cooperatives was the biggest consumer cooperative in Switzerland.
As a young journalist, she was deeply concerned why women were not rewarded for their efforts nor the right to vote, freely permitted by the male population.
Historical background: In major European countries, women became passionate activists for their right to vote during and after World War II. Subsequently many countries were granted the right to vote — though the Swiss Federal Council reported earlier and concluded that a federal vote for female suffrage was premature.
At the height of the Cold War, the Swiss government wanted to introduce the obligation for women to do civil protection service. This was too much for the Swiss Catholic Women’s League and the Alliance of Swiss Women’s Societies, which had climbed the barricades. How could the Federal Council impose new obligations on women when they still did not have the right to vote? Public controversy threatened the civil protection project and in 1957 the Federal Council submitted a bill on women’s suffrage.
In 1968, the Swiss Federal Council considered signing the European Convention on Human Rights, without accepting the clause concerning women’s political rights. In the face of massive protests from women’s associations, the Swiss government organized a new vote on women’s suffrage.
Victory in 1971
Historical Background: After 100 years of Swiss feminists struggling for their rights, Ruth Dreifuss with hundreds and thousands of women celebrated 7 February 1971, when Swiss women won the right to vote and stand for election — The vote led to the amendment of Article 74 of the Federal Constitution of 29 May 1874.
Ruth Dreifuss recollected with a sense of pride: “Thanks for this victory, Swiss women could now be elected to the Swiss Federal Assembly. At the start of the 1971 winter session, the first female members of parliament took their seats, each being welcomed with a rose.
Historical Background: Media quotes from the presidents of the two chambers: Arno Theus (SVP/GR), former president of the Council of States (1970–1971)
“Madame Girardin, it is my great honor to welcome you as the first Swiss female member of the Council of States. I can assure you that your colleagues in this chamber will always respect you as an equal partner”.
Then Ferruccio Bolla (PLR/TI), president of the Council of States (1971–72) stated:
“The presence of a female member of parliament among us for the first time is such an event that it deserves to be highlighted by the outgoing president and his successor. I believe that I saw you, Mrs Girardin, following the debates on the introduction of women’s suffrage from the gallery. I had taken the floor; I began my speech with a striking sentence that, in my opinion, was sufficient to secure support for a belated act of justice and wisdom: ‘Under federal constitutional law, even the best of women is inferior to the lowliest of men.’ We have now advanced beyond this state of humiliation…”
Her Academic Career: Ruth attended Geneva University in 1970 and studied economics and econometrics earning a degree in Mathematics and Economics, where she worked briefly as a Faculty member of the university’s Department of Economic Social Studies from 1970 to 1972, also teaching for two years.
Early Political Career: Ruth Dreifuss joined the liberal Social Democratic Party, (founded in 1888), and attended campaigns becoming very involved with a variety of social issues, such as, adding childcare centers, eliminating wage differences based on gender, supporting homosexual civic unions and easing restrictions on abortions … becoming an outspoken and strong feminist.
While working as a university instructor, Ruth increasingly expressed ardent feminist views and also joined the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs Service where she worked for ten years on overseas development and cooperative projects. She became a keen supporter of Switzerland’s trade union, and more specifically women’s rights movements, forming strong relationships with the International Labor Organization (ILO).
At the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she sat on various federal committees and studied to becoming “competent” in five languages,while continuing to advocate for women’s rights. Consistently proving herself worthy as an able leader, shaped by the humble travels of a thoughtful person during those ten years.
Her experience as a political leader began in 1981, and Dreifuss became the first Jewish member elected General Secretary to the Federation of Swiss Trade Unionists. In that position, she dealt with social insurance, labor laws, promotion of women’s rights and relations with the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In 1989, she was elected to Berne’s Municipal Council as a member. By 1993, she became a Swiss Federal Counselor (and it must be remembered, she was the second female — and the only Jewish woman — to reach that position. (The first woman, Elizabeth Kopp, had been chosen five years earlier, but gave up in frustration caused by men on the council), but Dreifuss is made of sterner stuff.
Her Political Career: Members of the Council hold ministries, while rotating the Presidency. She served as Minister for Domestic Affairs, introducing extensive reforms in health, social security and pension services. During her tenure, Dreifuss was part of the investigation into Switzerland’s hotly debated role during World War II and joined the discussions between Switzerland, the World Jewish Congress and American authorities regarding funds of Jewish Holocaust victims held in Swiss bank accounts.
Historical Background: Later, the 2002 the report by an independent commission created by the Swiss government in 1997 lambasted the country for its role in the deaths of millions of Jews at the hands of the Nazis during the war. Commission members said the country “knowingly contributed to the Holocaust and cooperated with Nazi Germany during World War II.”
When the war ended, the report said, the Swiss government, museums, banks and businesses did not return Jewish assets to their right owners, The Swiss government apologized for its refugee policy in 1995 and began trying to settle claims against its banks made by Holocaust victims.
Madame President: “I myself viewed our grappling with the period 1933 to 1945 and the post-war years primarily as an opportunity for us to face what happened head on, and to analyze and explain the causal relationships,” Dreifuss said. “Switzerland was and is being called upon to remember its past, and this is a job not only for our politicians, but also for our schools, our universities and our political organizations, too.”
A week before becoming President, Dreifuss was watching a state-paid maternity benefit signed into a law after years of promoting that idea. She was the first Jewish woman ever to be elected President of the Confederation from 1 January to 31 December 1999.
In August 1999, she gave her approval to the Swiss payment of $1.25 billion in reparations for the country’s part in Holocaust.
Madame President: Ruth Dreifusss recalled: “Without any doubt the foundation of my political action is to be found in my experience of exclusion: as a woman involved in politics and the trade union movement, French-speaking, of Jewish origin, I had first-hand experience of the meaning of being a minority throughout my career.”
When she was elected, Ruth made it clear to her colleagues that she was not there as a token representative. “I don’t want to be treated — bouquets of flowers and all — as though I am only a piece of jewelry for the confederation.” Her presidency became “a symbol for the female progress made on the way to sexual equality.” She held her political position: “should not be given the illusion that the goal had been reached…”
For her, the election meant “Swiss women are now permanently hitched into Swiss politics … We have all the tools to change society, and we will change society.”
When her one-year term ended, Ruth Dreifuss took over the Federal Department of Home Affairs until resigning from the Council at the end of 2002. Since her departure from government, Dreifuss has chaired the United Nations Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health, and is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.
To conclude, Dreifuss recognized the landmark her presidency represents and has encouraged more women to follow her political path. “I won’t be satisfied if I’m the last woman President for decades. I’m just opening the door for other women … to enter successfully into the political arena as leaders …”
