Switzerland: Women at the Top

Elisabeth Kopp, 47, last week became the first woman ever elected to Switzerland's ruling Federal Council. With 124 votes out of a possible 241 , Kopp was chosen by the Federal Assembly to fill a vacancy on the seven-member council. She will become President of Switzerland some time within the next seven years; the top job is rotated yearly among the panel's members.

When Kopp entered politics in 1970, Swiss women were still a year away from being granted the right to vote in nationwide elections. A member of the conservative Radical Democratic Party, Kopp has nonetheless backed environmentalist and...

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