Emma Eigenmann

Emma Eigenmann-Schädler (born 30 October 1930) is a Liechtensteiner former politician and businesswoman. In 1986 she was the first woman elected to be elected to the Landtag, remaining a member until 1993.

Biography[]

Eigenmann was born Emma Schädler in Nendeln in 1930, the daughter of Elwina Katharina Hoop and . Her family was involved in politics, with both her father and her uncle Josef Hoop serving as members of the Landtag.^[1] She was educated at the St Elisabeth Institute in Schaan between 1943 and 1946 and then the Salve Regina Institute in Fribourg in Switzerland from 1946 to 1947.^[2] Between 1947 and 1950 she did an apprenticeship in ceramic painting, before studying at the ceramics school in Höhr-Grenzhausen in Germany.^[2]

Returning to Liechtenstein, she joined the family ceramics company Schaedler Keramik AG. In August 1953 she married August Eigenmann (1922–1967), with whom she had two children.^[2] She became head of the family firm in 1973, a role she kept until 1995,^[2] and was a board member of the Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1979 to 1995.^[2]

Women were not granted the right to vote in Liechtenstein until a 1984 referendum. Eigenmann stood as a Progressive Citizens' Party candidate in Unterland in the next general elections in 1986 and was the first woman elected to the Landtag. She was re-elected in 1989 but chose not to run in the February 1993 elections.^[3][4] She was subsequently awarded the Order of Merit.^[2]

Eigenmann's niece later also served in the Landtag.

References[]