Maria Irausquin-Wajcberg (13 September 1897 – 15 April 1979) was an

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

n politician. In 1963 she became the first woman to be elected to Aruba Island Council.

Biography

Irausquin-Wajcberg was married twice. She had two children with her first husband, Isaac Pinkus, with whom she ran a shop called Pinkus Store in

San Nicolaas San Nicolaas ( nl, Sint Nicolaas) is southeast of Oranjestad, and is Aruba's second largest city. it has a population of 15,283, most of whom originate from the British Caribbean and rest of the Caribbean. History According to oral tradition, ...

from the 1930s. She later married Juancho Irausquin (1905–1962), a prominent Aruban politician. At the time of his death in 1962, he was Minister of Finance and Welfare of the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

and leader of the

Aruban Patriotic Party The Aruban Patriotic Party ( Papiamento: ''Partido Patriotico Arubano'', PPA) is a political party in Aruba. It was founded in 1949. Prior to Aruba's independence, it was a supporter of a unified, independent Netherlands Antilles. In the 2001 ...

(PPA). In the 1963 Island Council elections, Irausquin-Wajcberg was the last-placed candidate on the PPA list, a slot usually reserved for prominent party members who do not expect to be elected. However, once preference votes were taken into account, she was elected to the Island Council, becoming its first female member. She did not stand for re-election in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

,Vier eilandsraadleden keren zeker niet terug
Amigoe di Curacao, 4 March 1967 and subsequently retired from politics. She died in 1979 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Oranjestad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irausquin-Wajcberg, Maria 1897 births Aruban women in politics Aruban Patriotic Party politicians 1979 deaths