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Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt (7 January 1901 – 30 October 1986) was a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU). She wasFederal Minister of Health in theGerman Cabinet from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold aMinisterial position in Germany.
Schwarzhaupt was the daughter of anupper school principal who belonged to theGerman People's Party of Prussia. Her mother came from a wealthy merchant family. She was engaged to a Jewish doctor who fled to Switzerland and then the United States because ofNazi persecution.
After finishing school in 1920, Schwarzhaupt studied law inFrankfurt am Main. In 1930, she received her doctorate in law. She was a legal adviser on women's issues until 1932 when she worked as aBeauftragter Richter ("Mandated Judge") inDortmund and Frankfurt am Main. She was dismissed in March 1933 in the wake of a judicial decree that women should no longer hold judicial office.
From 1935, Schwarzhaupt worked as a legal assistant at the Registry of the Evangelical Church in Berlin. In 1947, she returned to Frankfurt, promoted by 1953 toOberkirchenrätin ("Senior Church Adviser") andGeschäftsführerin der Evangelischen Frauenarbeit ("Director of Evangelical Women's Work").
On 10 December 1965, she was the first woman to be awarded theGroßkreuz des Bundesverdienstkreuzes (loosely, "Grand Cross of the GermanFederal Cross of Merit"). From 1970 to 1972, she was the First Chairman of theGerman Women's Council.
During theWeimar Republic, Schwarzhaupt was a member of theGerman People's Party. She belonged to the Christian Democratic Union from 1945 until her death. She was buried in the main cemetery in Frankfurt.
From 1953 to 1969, Schwarzhaupt was a member of the GermanBundestag. From 1957 to 1961, she was Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group. Unlike most women in the party, she was vehemently opposed to a ruling called the "Stitch" ruling (pertaining to the rights of the husband in marital disputes). Together withMargot Kalinke she orchestrated support for an opposition amendment to her own party's bill. TheGesetz über die Gleichstellung von Mann und Frau auf dem Gebiet des bürgerlichen Rechts ("Law of Equality between Man and Wife in Civil Law") was enacted on 18 June 1957 without the Stitch Clause. In 1997 the German government issued a postage stamp with her image.
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