Jeanne Eder-Schwyzer (March 2, 1894 in New York – October 24, 1957 in Zurich) was a Swiss

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist and President of the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., wit ...

Life

Jeanne Eder-Schwyzer was the daughter of Dr. Fritz Schwyzer and grew up in New York. She studied chemistry at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and was awarded her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in 1919. The following year, she married the chemist and Professor of Pharmacognosy and

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developme ...

Robert Eder (1885-1944). She was the mother of two daughters, the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Monika Eder and Ursula Elisabeth Eder, better known as Ulla Dydo, noted

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

scholar. Eder-Schwyzer was co-founder of a home for women students in Zurich and collaborator on the "Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work" ( Saffa) in 1928. She was involved in the petition for

Women's suffrage in Switzerland Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However it was no ...

in 1929, and was a promoter of the Swiss and Zurich Association of Women Academics, which she presided from 1935 to 1938. From 1939 on, she participated in women's politics at several levels: as president of the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland's women's group in Zurich (which she co-founded in 1935); as President of the Association for Women's Voting Rights (SVF) in the canton of Zurich; as a member of the civilian women's auxiliary service, from which she retired in 1945. She led the 3rd Swiss Women's Congress in 1946 and subsequently participated in the establishment of the Swiss Institute for Home Economics (SIH, 1948-1992). She was president of the women's group of the Swiss Enlightenment Service from 1947 to 1950, was a member (1949–1957) of the board of the '' Bund Schweizerischer Frauenvereine'' (BSF), and was sent by the BSF to the Swiss

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Commission, from 1949 to 1954. Eder-Schwyzer was President of the

from 1947 until her death in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eder-Schwyzer, Jeanne 1894 births 1957 deaths Swiss feminists Swiss suffragists Swiss women's rights activists