The first woman to have sat on the Federal Court, Margrith Bigler-Eggenberger, died Monday at the age of 89, according to an announcement released Saturday in the press. The former federal judge had shown herself in favor of gender equality.
Born in Uzwil (SG), Mrs Bigler-Eggenberger was in 1972, at the age of 39, the first woman to join the Federal Supreme Court (TF) as a deputy judge. She then sat from 1974 to 1994 as a judge in the Second Civil Court of the TF.
A member of the Socialist Party, she was an expert in social insurance law and the status of women. She is particularly committed to equal opportunities and equal rights.
“The beginnings at the Federal Court were not easy. Some colleagues even refused to talk to me,” she said in an interview. Mrs Bigler-Eggenberger remained for 17 years the only woman sitting on the Swiss Supreme Court. She resigned in 1994, but remained a substitute judge for two years.