Kristina Schröder (née Köhler, born 3 August 1977) is a German politician who served as the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to 2013. She served as a Member of Parliament between 2002 and 2017. Early life and education Schröder was born Kristina Köhler in Wiesbaden, Hessen. After finishing her abitur in 1997, she studied sociology, history, philosophy, and political science at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. She earned her Diplom in 2002, and her Ph.D. in 2009. Her doctoral thesis was (English: "Justice as equality? An empirical analysis of the objective and subjective responsivity of members of parliament"), supervised by Jürgen W. Falter. Following Schröder's appointment as government minister, her doctoral research came under close scrutiny for its heavy reliance on research assistance by her party. In 2011 it was reported that an assistant of Falter had been paid by Schröder for working on the statistical data on which the thesis was based. The university's president stated there was no evidence for any wrongdoing, and that legwork undertaken by aides was scientifically legitimate and accepted practice. Political career Schröder joined the Junge Union in 1991 and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2002, affiliated with the CDU. Between 2002 and 2009, she served as member on the Committee on Internal Affairs. In 2005, she also joined an inquiry committee investigating the involvement of German intelligence services in the Iraq War. On 30 November 2009, Schröder was appointed Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the cabinet of Angela Merkel. During her time in office, the government approved a bill to provide parents of 1- and 2-year-old children with an allowance for keeping their toddlers out of state-run day care, a move that critics said would derail recent efforts to encourage German women to return to work after starting a family. Amid a conflict within her own political party over the question of setting a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany, Schröder backed a voluntary scheme. When Germany's government reduced compulsory military service from nine months to six in 2009, Schröder took the lead on introducing the Federal Volunteers Service (BFD), a German government program which encourages volunteerism among young adults for public welfare, to fill the gaps left by changes to the national