Maria Schaumayer

First female president of Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Central bank of the Republic of Austria

„Women’s rights are rightly human rights and not privileges.“

Born in Graz, Maria Schaumayer obtained her doctorate in law at the age of 23, having already completed a degree in economics with a focus on industry. She then worked at Creditanstalt-Bankverein, where she became an authorised signatory in 1961. In the City of Vienna, Maria Schaumayer was a member of the City Senate and the state government from 1965 to 1973 as an Executive City Councillor nominated by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). From 1969 to 1982, she was a member of the Vienna State Parliament and Municipal Council. In 1974, she became a member of the board of Kommunalkredit AG in Vienna, where she was responsible for the lending business, accounting and financial statements. From 1982 to 1989, she was Chief Financial Officer of what is now OMV. From 1990 to 1995, she was President of Oesterreichische Nationalbank – Central Bank of the Republic of Austria, the first woman worldwide to hold a position like this.

Schaumayer was very concerned about promoting women in their careers, perhaps because she knew from her own experience how difficult it was for women to break through the glass ceiling. In 1991, she established the Dr. Maria Schaumayer Foundation, whose aim is to actively support women’s careers in business and science and to promote research into and improvement of the framework conditions for such careers.

From 2000 onwards, Maria Schaumayer was the government representative responsible for compensating forced labourers under the Nazi regime. In this role, she played a key role in concluding bilateral agreements between the Republic of Austria and six European countries as well as the United States. Through the establishment of the Austrian Fund for Reconciliation, Peace and Cooperation, around 132,000 former forced labourers have received compensation. In 2006, she was appointed an honorary member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, becoming the first woman ever to receive this honour. In 2014, one year after her death, Schaumayerplatz in Vienna’s district Döbling was named after her.