Marguerite Legot
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Marguerite Victorine Zéphirine Anne De Riemaecker-Legot (9 March 1913 – 7 May 1977) was the first Belgian woman to serve as a government minister, and the first to be appointed Minister of State. Daughter of Leonardus Legot, a lawyer, and Maria Jeurissen, Marguerite was born in Oudenaarde and educated at the
Bernardine Bernardine is a Latinate diminutive of the given name " Bernard". It can be applied to men, notably Saint Bernadine, but is now much more often a female name. Bernadine and Bernadene are variant spellings of the female name. The nickname '' ...
school there, attending high school in neighbouring Ghent. She studied law at Ghent University, graduating in 1936. She soon abandoned a legal career in Brussels to teach elementary civil and constitutional law in school. It was at this time that she became associated with Christian Socialist Senator Maria Baers. On 7 May 1938, Marguerite Legot married engineer Jules De Riemaecker, becoming Marguerite De Riemaecker-Legot. The couple had two sons. After the Second World War, De Riemaecker-Legot worked with
Henri Pauwels Henri Pauwels (19 January 1890 – 18 September 1946) was a Belgian trade unionist and politician. Born in Nivelles, Pauwels became a mechanic, and joined Christian Union of Belgian Metalworkers (CCMB), becoming a technical adviser in 1912. ...
, Minister with responsibility for victims of the war, later becoming a senior civil servant in that department. She was the only woman serving on the national committee of the Christian Democrats, and was active in the female branch of the Catholic Trade Union. In 1946 she was elected to the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives as one of the Brussels representatives. She was re-elected until 1971. From 1953 to 1958, and from 1962 to 1965, she served as secretary of the Chamber. From 1951 she served as a delegate to the United Nations, and sat in the European Parliament from 1958 to 1961. Active in social policy, she was the first Minister for the Family and Housing when that post was created in 1965. From 1970 to 1976 she was active in Brussels, serving as an ''échevine'' from 1971 to 1976. On 18 October 1974 she was awarded the Order of Leopold II and appointed Minister of State. She died in Brussels in 1977.


References

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Éliane Gubin Éliane Gubin (born in 1942) is a Belgian historian, researcher and professor of political and social history, specializing in the history of women and feminism. In the late 1980s, she initiated the introduction of women's history at the Univers ...
, ''LEGOT, Marguerite...'', in Éliane Gubin, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette & Jean Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006.


External links


Marguerite Legot
i
ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legot, Marguerite 1913 births 1977 deaths Government ministers of Belgium 20th-century Belgian women politicians Ministers of state of Belgium Ghent University alumni Recipients of the Order of Leopold II People from Oudenaarde