Maria Jonas

01 February 1940 – 25 September 2018

We were deeply saddened to hear today that our comrade and friend Maria Jonas, former Secretary General of Socialist International Women, has died at the age of 78 years.

Jonas started her political career in the international secretariat of the SPÖ. Later she was Secretary General of the Socialist International Women for ten years until 1995, and then board member of INSTRAW, a United Nations women’s research and training institution.

From 1997 to 2000 she also participated as an expert in the Austrian delegation to the United Nations Women’s Status Committee.

She was an international pioneer in peace and women’s politics always putting women’s issues at the centre of her work. She worked for women all her life and was a well-respected Politician in Austria and internationally as well as a role model for many women and men.

Not only the Socialist International Women and the Social Democratic Women, but the women’s movement as a whole have lost a companion and an important support today.

You will be sorely missed, Maria.