Bettina Vollath

First female president of the Styrian State Parliament

„The next decisive step towards true equality between men and women will only be taken once enough men have been convinced that equality is not exclusively a “women’s issue”, but something that benefits society as a whole.“

Born in Graz, she also went to school here. After taking her A-level exams, completing a college-based commercial program for A-level holders and spending a year studying at what was then the University of World Trade in Vienna, she returned to her hometown to study at the University of Graz, where she also obtained her doctorate in law in 1988. After her one-year court internship, she worked part-time in the private sector between 1989 and 1999, while also looking after her three sons (born in 1989, 1991 and 1995). While working, she completed a four-semester training course to become a mediator at ARGE für Sozialpädagogik (Vienna Working Group for Social Pedagogy) in Vienna. From 1999 onwards, she worked at two law firms in Graz and passed her bar exam in 2005.

She started her political career in the same year. From 2005 to 2009, Vollath was a member of the Styrian state government responsible for education, youth, women and family affairs, and from 2009 to 2010 she was responsible for health, hospitals and culture. After the 2010 state elections, she was a member of the state government responsible for finance and integration and women (from 2013) until 2015.

From 2009 to 2016, she was regional chairwoman of the Association of Social Democratic Academics, Intellectuals and Artists (BSA) in Styria. She also holds various important party positions within the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) at local, regional and national level. Her greatest successes include establishing school social work in Styria, the Styrian budget reform, the Charter of Coexistence in Diversity, and the Women and Equality Strategy 2020. On 16 June 2015, she was elected as the first female President of the Styrian State Parliament.