Women in the Federal Council – a history

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Elisabeth Kopp (Radical-Liberal), was the first woman elected. She served from 1984 to 1989, when a scandal (of which she was later cleared) led to her stepping down. Keystone

Ruth Dreifuss (Social Democrat) was Federal Councillor from 1993 to 2002, and became the first Jewish and female president of the country. Keystone

Ruth Metzler (Christian Democrats), became the second-youngest minister in history when she joined the Federal Council in 1999 aged 35. Keystone

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf was elected in 2008 as a People's Party member, but later left to form the Conservative Democratic Party. She was minister until 2015. Keystone

Micheline Calmy-Rey (Social Democrats), a strong advocate of “active neutrality” and open diplomacy, was Federal Councillor from 2003 to 2011. Keystone

Doris Leuthard (Christian Democrats) served on the Federal Council for 12 years, in a number of roles, until stepping down in 2018. Keystone

Simonetta Sommaruga (Social Democrats) has sat on the Federal Council since 2010, where she heads the police and justice ministry. Keystone

Viola Amherd (Christian Democrats) was voted in as Doris Leuthard's replacement, and Switzerland's eighth female cabinet minister, in 2018. Keystone

Karin Keller-Sutter (Radical-Liberal) became the ninth female Federal Councillor in 2018, when she was chosen to replace the outgoing economics minister, Johann Schneider-Ammann. Keystone

Social Democrat Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, the first government minister from canton Jura, was voted in on December 7 to replace Simonetta Sommaruga. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

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With the election of Elisabeth Baume-Schneider to the Swiss government on December 7, 2022, the number of women who have served as ministers comes to ten. The meagre total is a sign of the long road that women took towards political inclusion in the country.

Baume-Schneider from the left-wing Social Democratic Party was elected with Albert Rösti from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party to replace outgoing ministers Simonetta Sommaruga and Ueli Maurer, respectively.

Four years ago, on December 5, 2018, two women were elected to the government for the first time: Viola Amherd became the eighth female minister and Karin Keller-Sutter the ninth.

Although women’s suffrage was introduced in 1971 in Switzerland, it took 13 years for the election of the first female minister, Elisabeth Kopp. Progress following this was also slow: to date, 111 men have served as ministers, compared with the ten women.

Members of the government are elected every four years by the joint chambers of parliament; votes also take place whenever a sitting minister decides to step down.