Elsbeth Schneider-Kenel

Elsbeth Schneider-Kenel (born March 31, 1946 in Zug ) is a Swiss Christian Democratic politician and the first member of the government of the canton of Basel-Landschaft .

Life

Elsbeth Kenel, daughter of Karl Kenel, cheese maker and civil servant of the Swiss Federal Railways , and Margrith née Spiess, chief secretary, attended primary school from 1953 to 1959 and then until 1961 the secondary school in Arth . She completed the third year of secondary school in Goldau . In 1963 she spent a year in Switzerland at the Maison d'Etude in Freiburg . At the Ingenbohl seminar , she trained as a qualified home economics teacher from 1963 to 1966. In 1968 she married Guido Schneider. From 1966 until the birth of the first of two children in 1970, she worked as a home economics teacher in Gelterkinden , after which she made deputies. From 1972 Schneider-Kenel ran one of the two branches of the insurance company Konkordia in Reinach. She also took a seat on the board of the Konkordia-Kantonalverband Basel-Landschaft (from 1983 president) from 1980 and 1986-1994 as the first woman on the national board of Konkordia.

For Schneider-Kenel, her father, who politicized as president of the Schwyz Railway Association and social democratic cantonal council , was an important role model. After the resignation of her husband from the residents' council ( municipal parliament ) of Reinach , Schneider-Kenel was asked for a candidacy in this body. Schneider-Kenel then joined the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) and held a seat on the residents' council from 1984–1993 (President 1991–1992). 1991–1994 she was a member of the Basel district council , while in 1991 she narrowly missed the election to the national council . 1993–1994 she chaired the CVP Baselland. In 1994 she was the first woman to win a seat on the government council of the canton of Basel-Landschaft, where she headed the building and environmental protection department until her resignation in 2007. In 1998, 2003 and 2005 she was elected President of the Government. Ex officio member of the Swiss Construction, Planning and Environment Directors' Conference, she also sat on the board of this body from 1999–2007 or was its president from 2001–2007. Important business during her tenure as a member of the government was the expansion of public transport ( BLT Euroville), the planning of the Salina Raurica business location , the renovation of the Liestal cantonal hospital , the construction of the sewage treatment plant in Birsfelden and various tunnel construction projects .

Following her political career, Schneider-Kenel devoted herself to various board memberships, including from 2007 at Stamm Bau AG, from 2012 as president at Swisshelp66 and from 2013 at Beneficentia AG of the Mariastein monastery . In addition, she remained on the board of directors of BLT Baselland Transport AG until 2010, of which she was a member from 1994 and chairwoman from 2000. In addition, she volunteered in the Reinach gymnastics club, as president of the Reinach church renovation (2007–2012) and as a board member of the CVP 60+ group (since 2011). In 2012 she was involved in the initiative committee for the church's gender equality initiative in Basel.

Web links

• Alessandra Widmer: Elsbeth Schneider-Kenel. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 12, 2019 , accessed August 8, 2019 .

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