Against all odds: Switzerland’s first female federal judge

On December 4, 1974, Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger (1933-2022) became the first woman to be elected to the Swiss Federal Court. Keystone-SDA

Fifty years ago, Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger became the first woman to serve as a judge on Switzerland's highest court. But her election by the Swiss parliament was overshadowed by serious intrigue that has still not been cleared up.

For many years, Switzerland dragged its feet over questions of equality in the top echelons of politics and the judiciary. It was not until 1971 that women were given the right to vote at federal level and be elected to office. Twelve women entered the federal parliament that year.

Three years later, on December 4, 1974, Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger (1933-2022) became the first woman to be elected to the Federal Court.

In so doing, she realised her teenage dream that it was possible for women to have a career.

Bigler-Eggenberger grew up in an educated and politically active family in canton St Gallen in northeastern Switzerland.

Her mother led the Social Democratic Party’s women’s group in the municipality of Uzwil. Her father was a local councillor before becoming a member of the cantonal government and later a member of the House of Representatives and Senate. During the Second World War, her parents opposed the “Front movement” [far right movement in Switzerland that emerged in the 1930s] and took in refugees. Even after the war, many people went to live with them, including emancipated working women, who became role models.

Law firms reserved for men

Bigler-Eggenberger studied law in Zurich and Geneva after her Abitur [A-levels]. And even at a young age, she dreamed of one day becoming a judge. However, this was unrealistic, as she later recounts: “Without the right to vote and be elected, women could not be elected to a judgeship.”

The first difficulties arose after her studies when she wanted to be admitted to the bar. She needed to complete an internship for this. But she couldn’t find a law firm that was willing to take on a woman. In the end, she ended up at a local court.

Only with her husband’s consent

Once she was qualified, Bigler-Eggenberger, who was now married, found a job in canton Bern. However, she only worked part-time at her husband’s request. In fact, he could have banned her from working altogether: Swiss women needed their husband’s consent to do so until the 1988 revision of marriage law.

Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger was an expert on social security law and the status of women. Keystone / Christian Beutler

She threw herself into her work as a lawyer and was active in women’s organisations. She soon received teaching assignments at the University of St Gallen and a position at the insurance court there.

This job became a springboard. She joined the Federal Court as a substitute judge in 1972 and became a regular judge in 1974.

Manipulated CV

At first, everything went according to plan. She sent her CV with her qualifications to parliament, which had to validate her election. But her CV was never accepted by the House of Representatives and Senate.

Her father, who was a member of the Senate for canton St Gallen at the time, saw what was going on. When he finally got his hands on the documents she had sent, he was horrified, Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger recalls decades later.

Her father asked her why she had submitted such a poor CV that only detailed her internship and limited work experience. The relevant qualifications were missing from her CV and documents.

Research into Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger

Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger has appointed the  Swiss Institute for Feminist Legal Studies and Gender Law – FRI External link as her sole heir. FRI is researching the history of the first female federal judge. On behalf of the FRI, sociologist Christina Caprez is evaluating documents and looking for contemporary witnessesExternal link who knew Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger and would like to share their memories.

Unclear perpetrators

To this day, it is still unclear who made the summary of Bigler-Eggenberger’s CV at the time. Historian Elisabeth Joris calls it a scandal: “It was an example of the outrageous attitude towards women, who were not regarded as equals, despite the introduction of voting rights. This kind of attitude even authorised the falsification of documents.”

But the intrigue had an effect. Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger was elected – albeit only narrowly. Newspapers commented that she had gone directly “from the cooking pot to the Federal Court”.

Freedom of trade for sex workers

The first female federal judge continued to face stiff resistance. For a long time, she was an outsider at the Lausanne-based court and was cut off or ignored completely by her colleagues. As a substitute judge, however, she had already proven that she could assert herself.

She upheld a legal complaint by a sex worker who refused to allow the city of Zurich to dictate where she should stand. Bigler-Eggenberger argued that freedom of trade and commerce also applied to prostitutes. According to Joris, this was a groundbreaking verdict that classified sex work as a professional activity without any moral judgement.

The federal judge also played a key role in the first equal pay case in 1977 when a teacher won a complaint against wage discrimination.

Accusation of ‘child murderer’

But things became particularly difficult for Bigler-Eggenberger due to her political declarations. When she campaigned in favour of abortion without punishment, she was publicly defamed. It was said publicly that a “child murderer” was working at the Federal Court.

A year before her death, she recalled: “That really hit me hard. It was beyond the pale.” Party colleagues even dropped her. But she stuck to her feminist slogan: “The private sphere is political.”

For 17 years, Bigler-Eggenberger was the only woman working at the Federal Court. When she stepped down in 1994, she dreamed that one day there would be ten to 15 women working there. Her wish has now been fulfilled: of the 40 full-time posts, 15 are held by women.

Book reference

Joris, Elisabeth: Portrait: Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger. In: Schmid, Denise (ed.): Every woman her voice. 50 years of Swiss women’s history 1971-2021. Baden 2020. p. 73-79. (Hier Jetzt Verlag)

Adapted from German by DeepL/sbExternal link