Hedi Lang

Hedi Lang (30 October 1931 – 31 March 2004) was a Swiss politician. She was one of the first women to be elected to the Swiss National Council, the first woman elected to a cantonal executive and the second woman to serve as President of the National Council. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party.[1][2]

Hedi Lang
Member of the National Council of Switzerland
In office 29 November 1971 – 1 June 1983
President of the National Council of Switzerland
In office 30 November 1981 – 29 November 1982
Executive Council of the Canton of Zürich
In office 1983–1995
Personal details
Born	Hedi Gehri 30 October 1931 Uster, Switzerland
Died	31 March 2004 (aged 72) Zollikerberg, Switzerland
Political party	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

Biography

Hedi Lang was born on 30 October 1931 in Uster to Johann Gehri, a cheesemaker from Seedorf, Bern. She married Ernst Lang in 1957 and apprenticed at banks for several years before joining the staff of Die Arbeit, the socialist newspaper where her husband was the editor. In 1961, she joined the Social Democratic Party and in 1970, she was elected to the council of Wetzikon, where she and Ernst moved after their marriage. [2]

In the 1971 Swiss federal election, women were permitted to vote in federal elections for the first time. Lang was elected to the National Council as one of 10 women that year, the first to serve in the Federal Assembly. She rose to become the president of the parliamentary audit committee and, in 1981, became the President of the National Council, the second woman to hold the presidency after Elisabeth Blunschy in 1977. [2]

Lang left the National Council in 1983 and was elected to the Executive Council of Zürich and became the first woman to sit on a cantonal executive council. On the council, she was the Director of Justice and Home Affairs. In 1995, she left the council, having successfully shepherded the work on the expansion of Zurich Airport.[3][2]

Personal life

Lang married Ernst Lang in 1957. Ernst died in 1973.

Hedi Lang died on 31 March 2004 in Zollikerberg, near Zürich. [3]

References

1. Bewes, Diccon (2012). Swisscellany. Schwabe AG.
2. "Historical Lexicon of Switzerland". Retrieved 2020-01-02.
3. "Alt Regierungsrätin Hedi Lang gestorben". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 2004-04-01.

External links

• Eulogy by Max Binder, President of the National Council (in German and French)
• Hedi Lang in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Sources

KAM 95 International Zurich[1]

1. KAM 95 International Zurich. Gerber & Bruckmann. 1994. ASIN B003CBVSU0.