Dreifuss, Ruth (1940– )

Swiss socialist politician and president of the Swiss Confederation from 1999. As a single Jewish woman, Dreifuss was seen as a symbol of the changing times in Switzerland, committed to liberalism and to fighting for equality for women. A member of the Socialist Party since 1965, Dreifuss was elected to the Bern municipal council 1989–92. She was elected in 1993 as the federal councillor from Geneva by both chambers of parliament, heading the federal department of home affairs. The federal assembly elected her to the vice-presidency of the federal council for 1998, and in December 1998 elected her to the presidency of the Swiss Confederation.

Dreifuss was elected to the central secretariat of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions in 1981, where she dealt with several issues, such as social insurance, labour law, the promotion of women in the workplace, and relations with the International Labour Organization (ILO). She remained a member of the central secretariat until her election in 1993 to the position of federal councillor.

Born in Saint-Gaul, her family moved to Geneva, where she obtained a diploma in commerce and a degree in economics. Fluent in French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian, Dreifuss enjoyed a widely varied professional career before entering politics. She worked as a secretary in a hotel in Tessin 1958–59, then as a journalist at the Swiss Union of Cooperatives' weekly publication Coopération in Basel 1961–64. She returned to Geneva and became assistant in sociology at the University's Psycho-Social Centre, and later became junior lecturer at Geneva University. Subsequently, Dreifuss worked as scientific collaborator at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, at the federal ministry of foreign affairs, Bern, 1972–81.