Draft:Ersilia Fossati

Ersilia Fossati (25 March 1921 – 9 October 1999) was a Swiss politician from Ticino. She was a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland and an activist for women's suffrage.

In 1971, she was one of the first eleven women elected to the Grand Council of Ticino.

Life
Ersilia Fossati attended primary and secondary schools at the Ghislanzoni Institute in Milan, run by the Ursulines

She continued her studies at the Teacher Training College in Locarno, where she obtained her teacher's certificate in 1941at the Magistrale in Locarno

From 1941 to 1942, Ersilia Fossati taught Italian at the Sisters' Institute in Ingenbohl, during which time she learned German. Between 1942 and 1971, she was the assistant to Silvio Sganzini, director of the Vocabolario dei dialetti della Svizzera italiana, working on the cataloguing of terms. From 1963, she was also head of the Volkshochschule in Lugano.

From 1971 to 1975, Ersilia Fossati worked as a secretary at Fidinam. She worked until 1983 for the home care service in Luganoa. During this period, she succeeded in tripling the number of partner municipalities.

Works

 * , Rivista militare della Svizzera italiana, Vol. 53, No . 6, 1981, p. 18
 * Rivista militare della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, vol. 53, 1981