majority of her parliamentary party. Both motions failed. She was chairperson of the committee for Women's emancipation between 1989 and 1994 and of the committee for Health, Welfare and Sports between 1994 and 1998. As a prominent member of parliament, Van Nieuwenhoven held several positions within the world of the arts. She was on the board of the foundation for the Festival of Stories in Amsterdam, between 1989 and 1994. She was chairperson of the board of the Combined Theaters in Amsterdam between 1992 and 2002. She also sat on the board of the Amstel Foundation for Youth Theatre in the same period. Furthermore, she was a member of the board of the Dutch Film Festival and chaired that of the VSB Poetry Prize. In 1998, she was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, becoming the first woman to have this function. In 2002 she did not stand for reelection and instead became chairperson ad interim of her own parliamentary party, which was a considerable crisis, after losing the elections. In November 2002 she stood for election of chairperson and top candidate for her own party, but was convincingly beaten by Wouter Bos. Van Nieuwenhoven came second (with a 30% margin) and was second candidate and first woman on the PvdA list. She became the vice-chair of the parliamentary party, responsible for internal affairs. Retirement from politics and subsequent return In 2004 she left parliament to become a member of the provincial executive of South Holland. In 2006 she resigned from this post for health reasons. In 2005 she was rewarded with the Golden Pin of the PvdA, which had previously been given only to Joop den Uyl and Max van der Stoel. She currently chairs the committee that will select and assess prospective parliamentary candidates for the PvdA. Van Nieuwenhoven still holds several functions in the Dutch arts world: she is chairperson of the National Theatre, a member of the academy for the Golden Goosefeather (an art prize), and of the advisory board of the Institut Néerlandais and the Kröller-Müller Museum. In October 2009, she came back from retirement to become candidate for the PvdA leadership in The Hague. On 23 October she was confirmed to lead the PvdA into The Hague local election in 2010. Electoral history Decorations References External links Official J. (Jeltje) van Nieuwenhoven Parlement & Politiek 1943 births Living people Commanders of the Order