Christiane Brunner – icon of the women’s movement, which was ahead of her time

Whole, direct, undiplomatic and original: Christiane Brunner was like this, writes author Catherine Duttweiler. She knew the national councilor and councilor well. Brunner died at the age of 78.

Christiane Brunner was a woman of the clear words. When Foreign Minister René Felber surprisingly resigned from the Federal Council on January 13, 1993, the crown favorite did not dive as usual. Instead of getting along for a long time to think about, as recently center-top candidate Markus Ritter, she still stepped from the cameras on the day of Felber’s resignation-without waiting for the nomination by her party. « I don’t run because I really want to become a Federal Councilor, » she said, « but because women expect a woman to become a Federal Councilor. » The state government was a pure men’s body at that time, four years after the resignation of Elisabeth Kopp – but only for a short time. And that is still the merit of the quick -witted Geneva lawyer.

The life of Christiane Brunner is closely linked to the history of equality between Swiss women. She called herself feminist, her opponents liked to label her as a « red emanity ». She was ahead of her time and therefore caught.

Brunner had struggled as a work student as a half -orphan from the simplest circumstances. As soon as she had her legal patent, she conducted the first process in nationwide about the equality of paying man and woman and won him before the Federal Court. Later she successfully processed sexual harassment at work, made a career at the unions and initiated the nationwide women’s strike in 1991, in which half a million women took part. The motto: « If women want, everything gets going – if woman wants, everything stands still. »

When Christiane Brunner served a whiskey and that you offered

That was typical of Christiane Brunner’s special style. Despite her ingenuity, she was open, charming, funny. Unforgettable how she once served me a whiskey at a first meeting in her chief internal office at the Swiss watch and metal workers’ association and which you offered. She was cheerful, direct, undiplomatic, original – and respected other opinions. She liked to provoke, for example, when she used a Bible quotation from the history of creation as a slogan as the top candidate of the Geneva SP women’s list: « Il n’est pas bon que l’Homme soit seul » (it is not good that the man/man is alone). What was a strength for many denounced others as weakness.

This was also evident in her Federal Council candidacy. Because of their rapid promise, their opponents had plenty of time to take a critical look at them. Some things that they were merging over 30 years ago would no longer be conceivable these days: they do not wear a high -heeled shoes or costumes, some complained, and: their curls were too wild. When Brunner was asked whether she would also take over the military department in an election, she mocked: « If I was given the EMD (now VBS), I will only go to work for eight years. »

Christiane Brunner struggled for a long time with her non -election

In a personal conversation, Brunner struggled with the non -election shortly after the election as well as years later, for example at a meeting in the Vallée de Joux, where she had a remote holiday home for a long time. It was quick after her resignation from the Council of States. Only occasionally she was politically expressed, for example against increasing the age of women. Plagued by health problems, she lived increasingly. On Friday morning, less than four weeks after her opponent Francis Matthey, she died at the age of 78.