Esther Ouwehand (born 10 June 1976) is a Dutch politician and former marketing manager serving as

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of the Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD) and its

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamenta ...

in 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 ...

since 2019. She has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2006 election with two interruptions.

Biography

Personal life

Esther Ouwehand went to secondary school in

Katwijk Katwijk (), also spelled Katwyk, is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and into the North Se ...

, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" ( nl, beleid, communicatie en organisatie) at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

, which she did not finish. Ouwehand is

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

and currently resides in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

. She was raised a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

but is currently an agnostic. She is

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

. Dutch webzine Lords of Metal conducted an interview with Esther Ouwehand in which she told about her deep rooted passion for hard rock and heavy metal music, in particular

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

Career

Initially, she did not consider a career in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

. She left a promising career in

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, being junior marketing manager for youth magazines at

Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...

. She has additional functions as a committee member for youth centre "De Schuit" and the

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

"Factor Welzijn" in Katwijk.

Party for the Animals

She joined the Party for the Animals in October 2002 and became the party's co-ordinator in 2004. She was responsible for the management of the party's

headquarter Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

s. She also co-authored the 2006 electoral program "220x liever..". The general elections of 2006 were considered a great success for the party. The party gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights. She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman Marianne Thieme. Consequently, she became a member of parliament, even though she received a total of 4.370 write-in votes, about a hundred less than lijstduwer

Kees van Kooten Cornelis Reinier "Kees" van Kooten () (born 10 August 1941) is a Dutch comedian, television actor, and writer. He formed the duo Van Kooten & De Bie with Wim de Bie from 1972 to 1998. Biography Cornelis Reinier van Kooten was born on 10 Augu ...

, who received 4.479 votes. She was sworn in on 30 November 2006. Contrary to her wishes she was not initially placed on the election list for the general elections of 2010, but the party members voted her on the second place, so she became re-elected. Ouwehand temporarily resigned from the House on 17 November 2015 for health reasons and was replaced by Frank Wassenberg. She returned to the House on 18 October 2016. On 8 October 2019, Ouwehand succeeded Marianne Thieme as parliamentary leader of the PvdD upon Thieme's retirement from the House of Representatives.

Electoral history

Bibliography

* ''220x liever voor mens, dier, natuur en milieu: Verkiezingsprogramma Partij voor de Dieren, Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2006''. Esther Ouwehand c.s., Amsterdam, October 2006 Election 2006 manifesto
/ref>

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links

*
Esther Ouwehand's weblog
*
House of Representatives biography
*
Perdefinitie.nl biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouwehand, Esther 1976 births Living people 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch women writers Dutch agnostics Dutch bloggers Dutch women activists Marketing women Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Party for the Animals politicians People from Katwijk Dutch women bloggers 20th-century Dutch women