Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt

Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt (7 January 1901 – 30 October 1986) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

She was Federal Minister of Health in the German Cabinet from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany.

Schwarzhaupt was the daughter of an upper school principal who belonged to the German People's Party of Prussia.

She was a legal adviser on women's issues until 1932 when she worked as a Beauftragter Richter ("Mandated Judge") in Dortmund and Frankfurt am Main.

In 1947, she returned to Frankfurt, promoted by 1953 to Oberkirchenrätin ("Senior Church Adviser") and Geschäftsführerin der Evangelischen Frauenarbeit ("Director of Evangelical Women's Work").