Ruth Dreifuss (born 9 January 1940) is a Swiss economist, unionist and politician who served as a member of the Federal Council from 1993 to 2002. She served as Vice President of Switzerland in 1998 and as President of Switzerland in 1999 for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

Early life and education

Ruth Dreifuss was born 9 January 1940 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, the second of two children, to Sidney Dreifuss (1899-1956), a merchant, and Jeanne "Johanna" (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bicard; 1905-1962), a secretary. Her elder brother, Jean-Jacques Dreifuss, is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. Her paternal family belongs to the oldest Jewish families of Switzerland settled in Endingen. Her maternal family originally hailed from Horbourg-Wihr in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, they became citizens in

Boppelsen Boppelsen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Dielsdorf (district), Dielsdorf in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Boppelsen is first mentioned in 1130 as ''de ...

in 1886. Officially, Dreifuss is

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

; however, she considers herself a secular Jew. In 1945, the family relocated to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, where Dreifuss attended ''École de Sécheron'', since 1947. After secondary school (Rue Neckar) she attended a commercial school, completing a general business diploma. In 1958, she started to study

social studies In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...

at the Haute école de travail social in Geneva, concurrently she attended several courses at the

and its then-affiliated Graduate Institute of Development Studies. In 1970, aged 30, she obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from this university.

Career

After business education, Ruth worked as a secretary and social worker. Also, she was a journalist at ''Cooperation'' from 1961 to 1964. She joined the Socialist Party (SP) in 1964. Between 1972 and 1981, she was scientific expert at the Federal Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Also, Dreifuss elected Secretary of the Swiss Trade Union, where she dealt with matters related to social insurance, labor law and women's issues, until her election to the Federal Council in 1993. Dreifuss was a social-democratic member of the City of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

's Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 1992. She missed out the election to the

National Council of Switzerland The National Council (; ; ; ) is a house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, representing the people. The other house, Council of States, represents the states, preventing more populous parts of the country overpowering the rest. As the p ...

in 1991. She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former female leaders whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

Election to the Federal Council

After the resignation of René Felber from the Federal Council, a member of the

was supposed to be elected, according to the unofficial " magic formula" used to determine the representation of the Swiss parties at the Federal Council. While Christiane Brunner was the

's official candidate for the election on 3 March 1993, the right-wing parties decided to back another member of the Social Democratic Party, Francis Matthey, a member of the national parliament and a Minister of the

Canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (; ; ; ) is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (or 23.4%) were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel. History County of Neuchâtel ...

at that time who declined election, as his party did not support it. A new election was organized on 10 March 1993, and the Social Democratic Party presented both Ruth Dreifuss and Christiane Brunner as the two official candidates. It was the first time that two women were on the official "ticket" for election, and Ruth Dreifuss was elected on the 3rd round with 144 votes.

Political actions undertaken

Ruth Dreifuss held the Federal Department of Home Affairs until her resignation on 31 December 2002. She was the first woman ever to be elected President of the Confederation from 1 January to 31 December 1999. She won several referendums, including a revision of the Health Insurance Bill, the 10th revision of the

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

system, a drug policy based on prevention, therapy, help and rehabilitation, and a new law regarding the film industry and its development. The 4-pillar policy was also aimed at reducing the spread of the

AIDS epidemic The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

, especially with a new policy regarding the supply of clean syringes. She worked on a Maternity Insurance law, but since the majority of the Federal Council rejected the proposal, she had to ask the people to reject her own text, as she had to respect

collegiality Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues, especially among peers, for example a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and, at least in theory, respect each other's abilities t ...

. She is a member and former chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy and a member of International Commission Against the Death Penalty.

Bibliography

* ''Dreifuss ist unser Name'' (Dreifuss is our name), by Isabella Maria Fischli, Ed. Pendo, 2002, . * "Ruth Dreifuss" in ''Women of power - half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide'', by Torild Skard, Bristol: Policy Press, 2014, .

References

External links

*
Ruth Dreifuss
i
History of Social Security in Switzerland
*
Legacy interview.
. Personal history interview
Time to Abolish Drug-Related Death Penalty
by Ruth Dreifuss.

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. Published 13 October 2015. Updated 6 December 2017. , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreifuss, Ruth Women members of the National Council (Switzerland) Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) Presidents of the Swiss Confederation Interior ministers of Switzerland Women members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) 1940 births Living people Jewish Swiss politicians Anti–death penalty activists Drug policy reform activists Female interior ministers Women presidents in Europe Politicians from St. Gallen (city) Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians 20th-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss women politicians Jewish socialists Winners of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology 20th-century Swiss Jews 21st-century Swiss Jews First women presidents 20th-century presidents in Europe 20th-century women presidents Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 1991–1995 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 1995–1999 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 1999–2003