Lise Girardin | |
Office: | Member of the Council of States |
Term Start: | 29 November 1971 |
Term End: | 20 November 1975 |
Office2: | Member of the Grand Council of Geneva |
Term Start2: | November 1961 |
Term End2: | November 1973 |
Office3: | Mayor of Geneva |
Term Start3: | 1 June 1975 |
Term End3: | 31 May 1976 |
Term Start4: | 1 June 1972 |
Term End4: | 31 May 1973 |
Term Start5: | 1 June 1968 |
Term End5: | 31 May 1969 |
Birth Date: | 15 February 1921 |
Birth Place: | Geneva, Switzerland |
Party: | Free Democratic Party |
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 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]