Esther Ouwehand

Esther Ouwehand (born June 10, 1976 in Katwijk) is a Dutch politician and former marketing manager. She is one of the two Members of Parliament for the Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD).
== Biography ==
=== Personal life ===
Esther Ouwehand went to secondary school in Katwijk, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). 
She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" (Dutch:beleid, communicatie and organisatie) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she did not finish.
Ouwehand is married and currently resides in Leiden, South Holland.
She was raised a Protestant but is currently an agnostic. Furthermore, she is a vegetarian.
=== Career ===
Initially, she did not consider a career in politics. She left a promising career in marketing, being junior marketing manager for youth magazines at Sanoma. She has additional functions as a committee member for youth centre "De Schuit" and the foundation "Factor Welzijn" in Katwijk.
==== Party for the Animals ====
She joined the Party for the Animals in October 2002 and became the party's co-ordinator in 2004. She was responsible for the management of the party's headquarters. She also co-authored the 2006 electoral program "220x liever..".
The general elections of 2006 were considered a great success for the party. The party gained 179,988 votes (1,8%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights.
She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman Marianne Thieme. Consequently, she became a member of parliament, even though she received a total of 4.370 write-in votes, about a hundred less than lijstduwer Kees van Kooten, who received 4.479 votes. She was sworn in on November 30, 2006.
Contrary to her wishes she was not initially placed on the election list for the general elections of 2010, but the party members voted her on the second place, so she became re-elected.
== Bibliography ==
* 220x liever voor mens, dier, natuur en milieu: Verkiezingsprogramma Partij voor de Dieren, Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2006. Esther Ouwehand c.s., Amsterdam, October 2006 Election 2006 manifesto
== See also ==
* List of Dutch politicians
== References ==
* Parlement.com biography
== External links ==
* Esther Ouwehand's weblog
* House of Representatives biography
* Perdefinitie.nl biography
Category:1976 births
Category:Living people
Category:Dutch agnostics
Category:Dutch bloggers
Category:Dutch politicians
Category:Dutch vegetarians
Category:Dutch women in politics
Category:Marketing people
Category:Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Category:Party for the Animals politicians
Category:People from Katwijk
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Category:1976 births
Category:Living people
Category:Dutch agnostics
Category:Dutch bloggers
Category:Dutch politicians
Category:Dutch vegetarians
Category:Dutch women in politics
Category:Marketing people
Category:Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Category:Party for the Animals politicians
Category:People from Katwijk