Maria Tusch

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. ==References==