Lina Tsaldari (1887-1981)

Greek female politician, with significant social work. She fought for women's rights and was the first Greek woman to hold a ministerial office. Born in Athens in 1887, she was the daughter of the eminent Byzantinologist and later Prime Minister Spyridon Lambrou and Anna Balanou, sister of Lucia Balanou (wife of Antonios Zygomalas). During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and in the wars that followed, she served as a volunteer nurse of the Greek Red Cross. In 1919 she married Panagis Tsaldaris, later Prime Minister of Greece. After the death of Panagis Tsaldaris, she developed social activity as president of the P.I.K.P.A. (Patriotic Foundation for Social Protection and Antipathy).

During the Civil War period she was the 'Envoy Lady' of the fundraiser 'Welfare of the Northern Provinces of Greece', which operated under the auspices of Queen Frederica. With the proceeds of the 'Queen's Fundraiser', as it was known, the 'Paidopoleis' (Children's villages) were created, where orphans of the Civil War were housed. In 1952, she represented Greece in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and in 1956 and 1958 she was elected as a member of parliament on the National Radical Union (NRU) ballot. From 29 February 1956 to 5 March 1958 she served as Minister of Social Welfare in the second government of Constantine Karamanlis. She died one day before the parliamentary elections on 17 October 1981. Pictured: Speech by Lina Tsaldari, the first female Minister in a Greek government. ©Central Service of the General State Archives of Greece.