Catharina Isabella "Ien" Dales (18 October 1931 – 10 January 1994) was a Dutch politician and social worker. Born in Arnhem, she received a degree in education from the University of Amsterdam and worked in social services before her career in politics. She became a member of the Labour Party (PvdA) in 1968 and was appointed State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the Van Agt II cabinet, a position that she held between 1981 and 1982. Dales was a member of the House of Representatives between 1981 and 1987 and mayor of Nijmegen between 1987 and 1989. She was the Minister of the Interior in the Lubbers III cabinet from 1989 and 1994.

Dales was born on 18 October 1931 in Arnhem, Netherlands.^[1] Her father was Teunis Dales, who owned a business selling construction supplies and her mother was Wilhelmina Bertha Holstigen. She was the eldest of three children, with a younger brother and sister. The family were well off and she attended a public primary school. When Dales was ten, her father died of appendicitis and her mother had to go to work.^[2][3]

Dales began her secondary studies at the public Hogere Burgerschool in Arnhem. She received an HBS-A diploma in 1947 and, intending to study medicine at university, an HBS-B diploma in 1950, but she was unable to afford to attend university. Having grown up in the Dutch Reformed faith, she decided to train as a youth church leader. She received a scholarship to attend the Church and World Academy in Driebergen, the largest church training programme in the country, in the 1950s. While studying, she was strongly influenced by her teacher Willem Banning, a co-founder of the Labour Party (PvdA).^[2][3]

She received a diploma in theology and preaching, and received a degree in education from the University of Amsterdam in 1975. Dales also worked for the Church and World Organisation between 1956 and 1974, starting as a course teacher, before becoming the deputy head and head of the education department and director of the organisation.^[1][2] She worked as a freelance researcher between 1 January 1975 until 1 September 1977.^[1][4]

Dales joined the PvdA in 1968.^[4] She was appointed as the director of social services for the municipality of Rotterdam by one of the alderman, Elizabeth Schmitz, following the discovery of widespread fraud in the department, with the challenge of re-organising the system. She held this position from 1 September 1977 and 11 September 1981.^[1][4]

Following the 1981 general election, she was appointed as the State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the Van Agt II cabinet, taking office on 11 September 1981, with special responsibility for social security.^[1][4] The Van Agt II cabinet dissolved just seven months into its term on 12 May 1982 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by the caretaker Van Agt III cabinet on 29 May 1982.

Dales was elected as a member of the House of Representatives after the 1982 general election, taking office on 16 September 1982. She was the chair of the committee on petitions and the committee on the police. She held this position until 16 May 1987, the day that she took office as the mayor of Nijmegen. She was mayor until 7 November 1989.^[4]

After the 1989 general election, Dales was appointed as the Minister of the Interior in the Lubbers III cabinet, taking office on 7 November 1989. She held this position until 10 January 1994.^[4]

Dales died on 10 January 1994 in Utrecht.^[4][5] She was the second known LGBT government minister in the Netherlands. She was in a relationship with fellow Labour Party politician Elizabeth Schmitz. For many years this fact was an open secret in Dutch politics at that time.