The Left needs to be represented in the cantonal government

Along with Silvia Thalmann-Gut of the CVP party, Barbara Gysel of the SP party is one of only two women hoping for a seat in the seven-member cantonal government.

If elected, the 41-year-old spinster, whose main job is being on the board of management of the Swiss Foundation for the Protection of Children, would bring much experience from a wide variety of other areas with her.

Gysel was interviewed by a journalist of the Zuger Zeitung as she strolled by the banks of the River Lorze, which has only recently been re-naturised. She derives great pleasure from nature, and with its great complexity and interdependency, she feels in some ways it is a model for politics to emulate.

“Oh, look at this; it’s marjoram,” she suddenly points out.

Accompanying her on this walk, too, is Peter F.X.Hegglin, who for decades was landscape planner at the Cantonal Office of Spatial Planning. Not many know more about nature and local topography than him, Gysel having met him years ago through her activity with the Zug branch of the WWF, of which she is the chair.

“I love the pulsating life in well-planned cities but also enjoy the great contrast nature provides. And we are so lucky we can do both so easily in Zug,” she said, adding that being in this natural environment provided her with the energy she needed for all her other commitments, for example sitting in the cantonal parliament, which she has done since 2000, and on the greater city council since 2014. Then, in addition to writing a doctoral thesis on a management topic, she is also involved in a wide range of other organisations relating, for example, to human rights, education, culture, the protection of animals, the environment and equal opportunities.

While on this latter topic, it is only natural Gysel would like to see more women involved in politics in the canton. “After all, we do make up 50 per cent of the population and there is no shortage of competent women,” she insisted. She could well see herself sharing a seat on the cantonal government with the only other woman candidate, Silvia Thalmann-Ball, though with the electoral system organised as it is, this would mean the CVP party having three seats, and this she feels would mean it being over-represented.
 
“Oh, look at this; its buddleia,” she suddenly points out again. “This plant makes an important contribution to diversity in nature, luring some 30 types of butterfly to its flowers. Just one such plant can have so many beneficial effects on the environment and I would like to bring an element of this diversity to politics, too. Hence, she thinks, as in diversity management, that it is important the Left is represented in the cantonal government, not least as she felt any imbalance weakened stability.

If successful, Gysel looked forward very much to taking on additional responsibility in the canton, striving hard to pursue economic and socially sustainable policies.