Maria Kovrigina

For Russian judoka, see Marina Kovrigina.

Maria Kovrigina
Мария Ковригина
All-Union Minister of Health
In office
1 March 1954 – 12 January 1959
PremierNikolai Bulganin
Georgy Malenkov
Preceded byAndrey Tretyakov
Succeeded bySergei Kurashov
Personal details
Born
Maria Dmitrievna Kovrigina

6 July 1910
Kamyshlovsky Uyezd, Perm Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedMarch 12, 1995(1995-03-12) (aged 84)
Moscow, Russian Federation
Resting placeKuntsevo Cemetery
NationalityRussian
Political partyCommunist Party

Maria Dmitrievna Kovrigina (Russian: Мария Дмитриевна Ковригина; 6 July 1910 – 12 March 1995) was a Russian physician who served as the minister of health between 1953 and 1959 and was the first woman appointed to head a ministry at the All-Union level.[1]

Early life and education

Kovrigina was born in Urals in 1910 into a Russian family.[2][3] In 1924 she joined the local Komsomol and became its secretary after three years.[2]

In 1931 Kovrigina graduated from the worker's school.[3] She obtained a degree in medicine.[2] During her studies she joined the Communist Party.[3]

Career

Following her graduation Kovrigina began to work in Chelyabinsk and then was made the chief of staff of the regional department of health and education there.[2] In September 1942 she was named the deputy minister of health,[2][3] In this capacity she was responsible for the policies about the mother-child health.[3] In 1950, she was appointed the minister of health which she held until 1957.[4] When she was in office she managed to pass a law which lifted the prohibition of abortion in 1955.[5] Then Kovrigina served as the director of the department of pathology at the Moscow Central Postgraduate Medical School.[6]

Party career and views

Kovrigina was a member of the central committee of the Communist Party.[6] She was also part of the Soviet Women’s Anti-Fascist Committee which was established in 1941 to support the gender equality project in the Soviet Union.[5]

Personal life and death

Kovrigina died in Moscow in 1995.[2]

Awards

Kovrigina was awarded a medal for her activities in the siege of Leningrad during World War II.[2]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Georgy Manaev (21 November 2020). "5 prolific women politicians in the USSR". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e A. Lurie (14 January 1949). "Deputy health minister of USSR is woman physician". USSR Information Bulletin. IX (1): 151.
  4. ^ Christopher Burton (December 2005). "Soviet Medical Attestation and the Problem of Professionalisation under Late Stalinism, 1945-1953". Europe-Asia Studies. 57 (8): 1221. doi:10.1080/09668130500351423. S2CID 155035057.
  5. ^ a b Sasha Talaver (3 August 2020). "When Soviet Women Won the Right to Abortion (For the Second Time)". Jacobin. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b Vladimir Bychkov (15 January 2013). "My Road to Freedom". HIAS. Retrieved 18 March 2022. [permanent dead link‍]