For men, children have never been an obstacle on the way to the Federal Council – no matter how large the group of children. The Catholic-Conservative magistrate Philipp Etter (1891-1977) ruled from 1934 to 1959, his nickname was “L’Éternel”, the Eternal. He had ten children who were cared for by his wife Maria.
Etter helped shape the idea of spiritual national defense, the core of which was family unity. “Children are the state’s greatest treasure,” he declared during World War II. That’s why he campaigns for “serious and well-developed marriage counseling”. Etter was convinced: “A mother is always a strong woman!” He said of his wife that she was ‘the real government’.
But he did not want to understand that politically: in 1959 he spoke out against women’s suffrage. This “phenomenon of decomposition” damages the reputation of the female sex. Of course, his wife and daughters saw it differently. In 1971, they persuaded him to agree to the bill. Three years later, Etter’s daughter Monika became one of Bern’s first ten councillors.