Jet Bussemaker


Mariëtte "Jet" Bussemaker is a retired Dutch politician. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 5 November 2012 to 26 October 2017 in the Second Rutte cabinet. She has been a professor of Science, Policy, Social Impact and Healthcare at Leiden University since 1 July 2018.

Biography

Early life

Mariëtte Bussemaker was born on 15 January 1961 in Capelle aan den IJssel in the province of South Holland as the daughter of Henk Bussemaker and Elly Verduyn den Boer. Bussemaker attended primary and secondary education at the Rijnlands Lyceum in Oegstgeest. She subsequently studied at the University of Amsterdam where she obtained a Bachelor of Social Science and a Master of Social Science with cum laude in political science. In 1993, Bussemaker received a doctorate degree as a Doctor of Philosophy in political and social-cultural sciences at the same university. Between 1993 and 1998 she was assistant professor of political science at the University of Amsterdam. She had been a member of the GreenLeft party during that period, but in 1995 she left it to join the Labour Party in 1997.

Political career

In the 1998 elections Bussemaker was elected into the House of Representatives. She specialized in employment policy, health care and taxes. In 2000 she was co-initiator of a proposal to allow conscientious objection for working on Sundays. This proposal became law in 2002. She remained assistant professor during her membership of the House of Representatives, now at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
After the election of 2006, Bussemaker was asked to become State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. Bussemaker accepted and resigned as assistant professor the same day she took office as the new State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport on 22 February 2007. In May 2008, Bussemaker received strong criticism from MPs and fellow cabinet members after stating for the radio that she supported 2008 American Presidential candidate Barack Obama, and that she would consider the election of his Republican competitor John McCain to be a disaster. She did this in defiance of a ban on Cabinet members discussing foreign politics in a personal capacity, instituted earlier after Bussemaker's fellow Dutch Labour party member and Finance Minister Wouter Bos expressed a similar sympathy for Barack Obama. On 20 February 2010 the Cabinet Balkenende IV fell and Bussemaker and the rest of the Labour Party cabinet members resigned on 23 February 2007.
In January 2011 it was announced that Bussemaker would be part of the Board of the "Hogeschool Amsterdam" and the University of Amsterdam, , she would also be dean at the Hogeschool Amsterdam. In December 2011 Jet Bussemaker and the board received heavy criticism for apparently allowing or not being able to curb widespread diploma fraud at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
Bussemaker gave the 2013 Mosse Lecture, titled Grenzen aan homo-emancipatiebeleid: burgerwacht of politieagent? – Over de 'red lines' van het homo-emancipatiebeleid.

Decorations