Maria Tusch

Maria Tusch (1 December 1868 – 25 July 1939) was an Austrian trade unionist and politician. In 1919 she was one of eight women elected to the Constituent Assembly, becoming the country's first female parliamentarians. She remained in parliament until 1934, when she was arrested and imprisoned following the Austrian Civil War.

Biography Tusch was born Maria Pirtsch in Klagenfurt in 1868, the daughter of an unmarried maid. She married Anton Tusch, a railway worker and fellow SdP member. The couple adopted a daughter.

Tusch was a SdP candidate in the 1919 Constituent Assembly elections and was one of eight women elected, becoming Austria's first female parliamentarians. She was re-elected in 1920, 1923, 1927 and 1930. During her time in parliament she focused on women's rights, World War I veterans and abortion rights.

She died of pneumonia in 1939.