Dutch Labour politician with an unconventional, no nonsense style.
Ien Dales was born in Arnhem as the eldest of three children of Teunis Dales (1903 – 1 April 1942, Arnhem), a merchant in construction material and Wilhelmina Bertha Holstigen. She was 10 when her father died of appendicitis. After that her Protestant mother had to run the family writes her KNAW biographer Alexander van Kessel. Some genealogy resources state that her mother died the next day, but the KNAW (Dutch Academy of Science) does not mention it. Maybe it was just a spiritual death. Anyway, it was a rampant year.
Dales followed the HBS-A and B in Arnhem between 1943 and 1950, wanted to study Medicine, but her mother could not afford it financially. So she studied for social youth worker at the Cristian “Kerk en wereld” in Driebergen (1950-1953).
First she worked as a youth worker in Zeeland (1953-56), where between 31 January and 1 February 1953 many children were deprived of their family because of the North Sea flood of 1953.
After this difficult work she returned to Driebergen and climbed the socially ladder of the non-profit foundation “Kerk en Wereld” of the Protestant church in Driebergen (1956-1975). She was inspired by the protestant theologian Willem Banning (21 February 1888, Makkum – 7 January 1971, Driebergen) who was one of the founders of the PvdA Labour party and “Kerk en Wereld”. She started bottom up giving courses and ended as the directorship of it (1 March 1969 – 1 January 1975). Meanwhile she studied Andragogy (teaching strategies focused on adults) at the UvA in Amsterdam.
From Jan 1975 to Sept 1977 she investigated the functioning of non-profit organisations. From 1 Sept 1977 to 1 Sept 1981 she was head of the “Gemeentelijke Sociale Dienst” (social services) in Rotterdam. The services had just been involved in a scandal of fraud by civil servants. She had to reorganise the reorganisation to make the service less bureaucratic, more transparent and client friendly: “Ik denk niet in wetten, ik denk in mensen” (I do not think of laws, I see people) she said 25 March 1991 in the NRC. Her pragmatic approach took the attention of the Labour top.
From 11 Sept 1981 to 29 May 1982 she was state secretary of Social Affairs. From 16 Sept 1982 to 16 May 1987 she was member of Dutch parliament for the Labour party. From 16 May 1987 to 7 Nov 1989 she was Mayor of Nijmegen. As she cared for the poor and suppressed, but was not concerned with her dress and imago she was called “Ma Flodder” by her citizens . From 7 Nov 1989 till her death 10 Jan 1994 she was Minister if Internal Affairs. In 1993 she madee the anti-discrimination law “Wet Gelijke Behandeling” with Hirsch Ballin (CDA).
Ien Dales died age 62 of an heart attack on 10 January 1994. As she was in political function it shocked the Netherlands. Her funeral was in the Dom of Utrecht. She was buried in her birth place Arnhem.
Personal.
Ien Dales was a very socially involved woman. As a member of the Protestant PKN she was involved with “Kerk en wereld” and institutes that wanted concrete deeds instead of just the Christian words. As a politician she was also very concerned with human emancipation and integrity.
Ien Dales kept he private life secret. But it was known that she had a relation with the jurist Elizabeth Maria Alida Schmitz (Rotterdam, 20 May 1938), who was mayor of Haarlem (1985-1994) and state Secretary of justice under Kok (1994-1998). After her death Lubbers made public that she was lesbian.
Since 1996 the “Burgemeester Dalesprijs” was set up by the C.O.C. and since 1998 the “Burgemeester Dales lezing” is a lecture named after her, which is held each year on the last Friday of January. The Price is given to people or organisations who honour the 1st principle of non-discrimination of the Dutch constitution.
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) has an “Ien Dales Leerstoel” that deals with the government as a social organisation and how to promote integrity via a just and transparent style of Governmental organisation .

Link to Dutch Wikipedia