Marie-Guite Dufay spent her youth in the region of the Allier, went on to study at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and subsequently came to settle in the Franche Comté in 1971. Married with 3 children ( 1973, 1976 and 1978) she set herself the task of conciliating professional life with that of the family as well as becoming involved in political activity and that of associations.
On her arrival in Besançon she immediately joined the services of the Prefecture where she worked in the domain of regional economic affairs Subsequently she occupied a post of special assistant at the Pierre Bayle Cultural Centre with the particular mission of organizing events to inform people about the world of the economy.
With the birth of her second child and the decision to take a break from her professional life, she became more involved in the life of associations in Besançon , working in particular with the Centre d'Information des Femmes, where she was ultimately offered a post in 1981.
In this capacity , she set up 4 departmental centres for the Rights of Women of the Franche Comté and was the principle organizer of these centres for the first 6 years ,concerning herself particularly with the issues of professional training and employment for women. Following on this she went to work with the Agence nationale pour l'emploi ( national organization for employment) where she took charge of a regional pole dealing with the reorientation of employees who had been made redundant. .
Marie-Guite Dufay was first elected municipal councillor of Besançon in 1989 and joined the Socialist Party in 1993. In 1995 she assumed the of direction of city policy. In 2001 she was appointed fourth deputy and took charge of the social policies introduced by the municipality. Thus she collaborated on the major dossiers for urban redevelopment and helped to obtain greater recognition for the role of associations in the life of the city- quarters. She introduced into the 'Centre Communal d'Action Sociale' (Communal Centre for Social Action) a service known as "proxim social" in aid of those living in difficult circumstances and another service, "prevenance" whose purpose is to combat isolation of the aged..
Marie-Guite Dufay was elected to the Franche Comté Regional Council in 2004 on the list headed by Raymond Forni.. It is he who entrusted her with the sectors of economic development, the policy of social economy and aid and that of employment ; Among her functions at the Region , she chaired the surveillance commission of the Agency for Economic Development whose role it is to accompany the development of the different sectors of the comtois. economy and contribute to the creation of new jobs. She has worked particularly to promote the creation of "trampoline jobs" and to improve the conditions of home employment and home helps which receive support from the regional collectivity.
Marie-Guite Dufay 's career has ranged from bringing relief to those of the community who are worst off to injecting new life into enterprises and she is thus equipped to deal with the major economic issues and the social questions which are of importance to the Franche Comté.
