Ina Brouwer (born 11 April 1950) is a Dutch retired politician of the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

(CPN) and later co-founder of the

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

(GL) party and lawyer.

Education and early career

Brouwer studied

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Groningen University The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

. There, Brouwer came in touch with

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

law and socially engaged lawyers. Inspired by this side of the legal profession, Brouwer became a member of the

. In 1981, she became a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the CPN. In 1981, she succeeded Marcus Bakker as chairperson of the CPN parliamentary party. She remained in the House of Representatives until 1986, when the CPN lost its three seats in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

and disappeared from the House. Brouwer was a longtime advocate of a merger of the CPN, the

Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to ...

and Evangelical People's Party and the leftwing socialist

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party histor ...

to form a new left-wing formation. In 1989 this was realized, and the new party was called

. After the

1989 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * ...

Brouwer returned to the House of Representatives, as a member of parliament for GroenLinks. Between 1990 and 1991, Brouwer was one of the first members of parliament to leave the House of Representatives for a short period to

give birth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

. The duo Ina Brouwer/ Mohammed Rabbae were the top candidate for the 1994 elections after winning a preliminary from

Paul Rosenmöller Paul Rosenmöller (born 11 May 1956) is a Dutch television presenter, politician, and former trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks ('GreenLeft') and was party leader from 1994. S ...

/ Leonie Sipkes. Brouwer and Rabbae were not very successful in the general elections and the party lost one of its six seats. Brouwer announced that she would step down and not take her seat in parliament. Between 1995 and 2003, Brouwer worked at the

Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment ( nl, Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid; SZW) is the Dutch ministry responsible for social affairs, relations between employers and employees, social security, trade unions and emancip ...

as director for

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...

and a quartermaster for the Academy of the ministry. In 2003, she published a book, ''Het glazen plafond. Vrouwen aan de top, verlangens & obstakels'' ("The

Glass ceiling A glass ceiling is a metaphor usually applied to women, used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy.Federal Glass Ceiling Commission''Solid Investments: Making Full ...

. Women at the top, desires, and obstacles") on the position of women on the labour market. In 2005 Brouwer became a senior advisor at Twynstra Gudde, where she advises public institutions on diversity, social affairs and government reform. In January 2007, Ina Brouwer announced that she became a member of the

Dutch Labour Party The Labour Party ( nl, Partij van de Arbeid, , abbreviated as ''PvdA'', or ''P van de A'', ) is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, the Free ...

in addition to her membership of

. She did this in protest against GroenLinks' decision to abandon negotiations with the Labour Party, the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

, and the Christian Union during the cabinet formation. Brouwer thought that this was a missed opportunity.

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. I. (Ina) Brouwer
Parlement & Politiek , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brouwer, Ina 1950 births Living people Chairmen of GroenLinks Chairmen of the Communist Party of the Netherlands Leaders of the Communist Party of the Netherlands Leaders of GroenLinks Dutch atheists Dutch health and wellness writers Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch relationships and sexuality writers Dutch trade association executives Dutch political consultants Dutch women activists Dutch activists Dutch women lawyers Dutch political party founders GroenLinks politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Politicians from Amsterdam Lawyers from Rotterdam Dutch socialist feminists University of Groningen alumni 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch women writers 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch lawyers 21st-century Dutch women writers 20th-century women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers