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Ruth Dreifuss

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Ruth Dreifuss (b. 1940 - ) is a member of the Swiss Social Democratic Party and was the first woman ever to become President of the [Pagelink infos="Gender Equality in Gender Equality in Switzerland|Swiss Confederation"].
<div id="toc">
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
	<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_education-and-early-career"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Education and Early Career</span></a></li>
	<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_politics"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Politics</span></a></li>
	<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_reaction-to-her-status-as-first-female-president-of-swizerland"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Reaction to her status as first female President of Swizerland</span></a></li>
	<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_see-also"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">See Also</span></a></li>
	<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2 id="w_education-and-early-career">Education and Early Career</h2>
Ruth Dreifuss was born in St. Gallen, [Pagelink infos="Gender Equality in Switzerland"]. She obtained a Master of Economics of the University of [Pagelink infos="Geneva"] before working as a journalist at <i>Coopération</i> from 1961 to 1964. She was an assistant at the University of Geneva from 1970 to 1972, and then became scientific expert at the Federal Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation between 1972 and 1981.
<h2 id="w_politics">Politics</h2>
From 1981 until her election to the Swiss Federal Council in 1993, Dreifuss was the Secretary of the Swiss Trade Union. She was a social-democratic member of the City of Berne's Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 1992.

In 1999, she was the first woman to be elected President of the Confederation, a one-year rotating position. She was in charge of  the Federal Department of Home Affairs until her resignation on 31 December 2002.

During her time at the Federal Council She won several referendums, including a revision of the Health Insurance Bill, the 10th revision of the social security system, a drug policy based on prevention, therapy, help and rehabilitation, and a new law regarding the film industry and its development. She worked on a [Pagelink infos="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.
<h2 id="w_reaction-to-her-status-as-first-female-president-of-swizerland">Reaction to her status as first female President of Swizerland</h2>
After her election in 1999, Dreifuss declared that the election of a woman as President was an important symbol of the profess achieved in [Pagelink infos="Gender Equality"] in Switzerland. "The presidency should not give the impression that this objetive has been achieved, and there is still a lot to be done in this domain." When asked whether she was pleased to be the first female Swiss President, she answered that "I woudl have just as happy if any of my other sisters had this position."

Internationally, the election of a female President excited considerable attention - with 60 articles written upon her election, unprecedented for the media coverage of a Swiss presidency.

President Dreifuss is a member of the [Pagelink infos="Council of Women World Leaders|Council of Women World Leaders"], an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
<h2 id="w_references">References</h2>
<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.cwwl.org/members.htm">http://www.cwwl.org/members.htm</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.swissworld.org/fr/population/portraits_de_femmes_celebres/ruth_dreifuss/">http://www.swissworld.org/fr/population/portraits_de_femmes_celebres/ruth_dreifuss/</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="w_see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.cwwl.org/bio/dreifuss-ruth.html">Ruth Dreifuss</a> with <a href="http://www.cwwl.org/">Council of Women World Leaders</a></li>
	<li>[Pagelink infos="Female Heads of State|Female Heads of State"]</li>
</ul>

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