Hanna Sahlfeld-Singer (born 17 October 1943) is a Swiss former politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the National Council in 1971, serving until 1975.

Biography

Sahlfeld-Singer was born in

Flawil Flawil is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland with slightly over 10,000 inhabitants. It is the regional centre of Untertoggenburg, but belongs to the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil. History Flawil is first mentioned ...

in October 1943, the daughter of Margrith (née Hohl) and Werner Singer (a master weaver).HannaSahlfeld-Singer
Historisches Lexicon der Schweiz After attending primary and secondary school in Flawil, she completed her education at the cantonal school in

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

. She subsequently studied Protestant theology. In 1968 she married Rolf Sahfeld, a pastor, and began carrying out part time pastoral work in

Altstätten , neighboring_municipalities= Eichberg, Feldkirch (AT-8), Gais (AR), Marbach, Oberegg (AI), Oberriet, Ruggell (LI), Rüte (AI), Rüthi, Sennwald, Trogen (AR) , twintowns = Altstätten is a small historic rural town and a municipality in th ...

. The following year she was ordained. After women were granted the right to vote in federal elections, Sahfeld-Singer was nominated as a candidate of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SP) in St Gallen for the 1971 federal elections. She was elected to the National Council, becoming the youngest of the group of twelve women elected. In order to take her seat, she had to give up her pastoral work due to a constitutional ban on clergy being MPs. The following year she gave birth, becoming the first sitting Swiss MP to do so. Although she was re-elected in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, she gave up her seat as she and her husband moved to

Wil Wil () is the capital of the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St. Gallen and Rapperswil-Jona, a twin city that merged in ...

. Later in 1975 the couple moved to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, where Sahlfeld-Singer worked as a school pastor at a school in

Wipperfürth 310px, Map of the city 250px, Town hall Wipperfürth () is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 40 km north-east of Cologne, and the oldest town in the Bergischen Land. History The eldest d ...

from 1976 to 2003. After retiring, she moved to

Barsinghausen Barsinghausen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the Deister chain of hills approx. 20 km west of Hanover. Barsinghausen belongs to the historic landscape Calenberg Land and was first mentioned i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahfeld-Singer, Hanna 1943 births Living people People from the canton of St. Gallen Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians 20th-century Swiss women politicians 20th-century Swiss politicians Swiss emigrants to Germany