Clara Winnicki

Clara Winnicki became Switzerland's first qualified female pharmacist in 1905, and went on to open and operate a succession of pharmacies. Commercial success eluded her, however. By 2018 the profession had become highly feminised: more than two thirds of Switzerland's qualified pharmacists were female; but there are indications that during the early decades of the twentieth century her gender placed Clara Winnicki at a professional disadvantage. In 1925 she married a Swiss-based German pharmacist who was not permitted to practice his profession in Switzerland. As a result of marrying a foreign man Clara Winnicki lost her citizen's rights as a Swiss citizen. In 1933 the couple were expelled across the frontier into Germany, having been identified by the authorities as "foreigners without means of support".