Femke Halsema

Femke Halsema (Dutch: [ˈfɛmkə ˈɦɑlsəmaː] ; born 25 April 1966) is a Dutch politician and filmmaker serving as Mayor of Amsterdam since 2018. She is the first woman to hold the position on a non-interim basis. She previously was a member of the House of Representatives for the leftist green party, GroenLinks from 1998 to 2011, and served as the party's parliamentary leader from 2002 to 2010.

Early life

Family background

Halsema was born in 1966 in Haarlem, the Netherlands, in a Dutch social democratic family. They moved to Enschede, a town in the east of the Netherlands, close to the German border (Twente). Her father W. Halsema was a sport teacher and director of the municipal service for physical education, sport and recreation (Dienst lichamelijke opvoeding, sport en recreatie) of Enschede. For a long time, from 1982 until 1994, her mother Olga Halsema-Fles was an alderwoman responsible for social affairs and employment for the Labour Party (PvdA) in Enschede. Her mother was also a member of the Dutch Social Insurance Advisory Board (College van Toezicht Sociale Verzekeringen).

Religious origin

Halsema and her mother are of recent Dutch Reformed Church descent. Halsema's mother Olga Margaretha Bertha Fles was born in 1941 in Velsen-Driehuis near harbour town IJmuiden north of Amsterdam. Olga Fles' parents Cornelis Nicolaas Fles and Truus Corbee married in 1939 in the Noorsche Kerk, Nederlands Hervormd, a Dutch Protestant church in Hilligersberg, near Rotterdam.