Wilhelmina "Ineke" van Gent (born 21 June 1957) is a Dutch politician serving as Mayor of Schiermonnikoog since 2017. A member of

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

, she was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1998 to 2012. She focused on matters of employment, social work,

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

and Kingdom relations.

Biography

Van Gent attended both mavo and

havo ''Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs'' (havo, meaning "higher general continued education" in Dutch) is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. It has five grades and is generally attended at ...

in Arnhem and attended the Social Academy. During and after her studies Van Gent worked as a check out clerk, cleaning lady and baby sitter and was active in the youth wing of the

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party histor ...

, the PSJG. Between 1982 and 1985 she worked for the Groningen Housing agency as social advisor. Between 1985 and 1994 she was a member of the Groningen municipal council, first for the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) and from 1991 for

into which the PSP had merged. From 1990 she was party group chairwoman. During this period was member of the party council of the PSP and GroenLinks. In 1993 she was a candidate for ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

'' for the national list, but she failed to enter the second round of voting. Van Gent worked as the North Netherlands-coordinator of the FNV labour union between 1994 and 1998, when she was elected to the

. Van Gent focuses on two major themes: solidarity, including housing, social policy, employment, regional and economic policy, and durability, including agriculture, nature and animal rights. Van Gent has voted against the GreenLeft parliamentary party on several important issues: she voted against the marriage of

Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beat ...

and

Máxima Zorreguieta Máxima may refer to * ''Máxima'' (magazine) * Máxima FM, Spanish radio station * Queen Máxima of the Netherlands Máxima (born Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti; 17 May 1971) is Queen of the Netherlands as the wife of King Willem-Alexander. A ...

, because she is a republican and she spoke out against GreenLeft's support for the invasion of Afghanistan. Van Gent initiated several legislative programs, concerning legal protection for

whistle blower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s, housing subsidies for students and constitutional protection of animal welfare. She has criticized lavish parties for departing politicians by saying "you can knock a zero off the price tag for most of them." She was opposed to a reduction in benefits to Turkish and Moroccan parents. She has criticized poor railway performance; she said "They are ‘ready for winter’, except when it snows."

References

External links

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gent, Ineke van 1957 births Living people Dutch civil servants Dutch republicans Dutch trade unionists GroenLinks politicians Mayors of Schiermonnikoog Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Groningen (city) Women mayors of places in the Netherlands Pacifist Socialist Party politicians People from Arnhem 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians