Maria Fyfe was born in 1938 in the Gorbals. During the Second World War she was evacuated to Ireland. On return to Scotland her family moved around and finally settled in Pollok, Glasgow, where she remained until her marriage to Jim Fyfe. She now has two sons, Stephen and Chris, and four grandchildren, Catriona, Jacob, Max and Peter. Maria worked in various roles in the secretarial and education sectors before her political career, gaining a 2:1 in Economic History as a mature student and awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Glasgow University for her work for women. She joined the Labour Party in 1960, where (after a 'wasted year' in Jim Sillars' Scottish Labour Party) she has remained ever since. Maria was a Glasgow District Councillor from 1980 to 1987 and them Glasgow Maryhill's mp from 1987 until she retired in 2001. Since retirement, Maria has remained politically active, most recently in the successful Mary Barbour campaign.