Ina Brouwer

Ina Brouwer, 1985

Ina Brouwer (Rotterdam, 11 April 1950) is a Dutch politician. She was chairperson of the Communist Party of the Netherlands in the House of Representatives and MP for GreenLeft, into which the CPN merged in 1989.

Education and early career

Brouwer studied Law at Groningen University. There, Brouwer came in touch with social security law and socially engaged lawyers. Inspired by this side of the legal profession, Brouwer became a member of the Communist Party of the Netherlands. In 1981 she became a member of the House of Representatives for the CPN. In 1981 she succeeded Marcus Bakker as chairperson of the CPN parliamentary party. She remained in the House of Representatives until 1986, when the CPN lost its three seats in the election and disappeared from the House.

Brouwer was a longtime advocate of a merger of the CPN, the Christian left Political Party of Radicals and Evangelical People's Party and the leftwing socialist Pacifist Socialist Party to form a new left-wing formation. In 1989 this was realized, and the new party was called GreenLeft. After the 1989 elections Brouwer returned to the House of Representatives, as a member of parliament for GreenLeft. Between 1990 and 1991, Bakker was one of the first members of parliament to leave the House of Representatives for a short period to give birth. The duo Ina Brouwer/Mohammed Rabbae were the top candidate for the 1994 elections after winning a preliminary from Paul Rosenmöller/Leonie Sipkes. Bakker and Rabbae were not very successful in the general elections and the party lost one of its six seats. Brouwer announced that she would step down and not take her seat in parliament.

Between 1995 and 2003, Brouwer worked at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment as director for emancipation and a quartermaster for the Academy of the ministry. In 2003 she published a book Het glazen plafond. Vrouwen aan de top, verlangens & obstakels ("The Glass ceiling. Women at the top, desires and obstacles") on the position of women on the labour market. In 2005 Brouwer became a senior advisor at Twynstra Gudde, where she advises public institutions on diversity, social affairs and government reform.

In January 2007, Ina Brouwer announced that she became a member of the Dutch Labour Party in addition to her membership of GreenLeft. She did this in protest against GreenLeft's decision to abandon negotiations with the Labour Party, the Christian Democratic Appeal, and the ChristianUnion during the cabinet formation. Brouwer thought that this was a missed opportunity.