| This year for International Women’s Day on March 8, we remember Senator Margaret (Peg) Schweinhaut, one of the most influential and long-serving women in the Maryland General Assembly’s history. A Democrat from District 18 in Montgomery County, she was sworn in as a Delegate in 1955, becoming one of just two female state legislators in Maryland. In 1961, she was appointed to a Senate seat that she held until 1963 and then again from 1967 to 1991. Senator Schweinhaut was the force that led to the creation of the State Commission on Aging in 1959, an entity that she chaired for 24 years. She lived her Catholic faith as an advocate for the vulnerable: persons with disabilities, the unborn and the impoverished. She supported care for the environment and opposed the death penalty. Many of the issues she advocated on are still before the legislature. In 1977, when the Senate considered (and defeated) a “natural death” bill (precursor to assisted suicide or euthanasia), she worried that the legislation could be “the first step in opening up the right of one person to take the life of another.” In 1992, Senator Schweinhaut was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame. A parishioner at Holy Redeemer in Kensington, she died in 1997. Let us be inspired by her unwavering commitment to faith and to upholding the dignity of all life. |
Remembering a Pioneer: International Women’s Day
