SWI swissinfo.ch: Huge turnout for women’s strike in Switzerland

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Equal Treatment
Huge turnout for women’s strike in Switzerland
This content was published on June 14, 2019 9:39 PM Jun 14, 2019 - 21:39
women demonstrating

Lots of younger women attended the events, such as this march in Lausanne
(© Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott)

Women across Switzerland took to the streets by the tens of thousands on Friday in a historic strike demanding equal treatment and conditions compared with their male counterparts.

A first estimate by the Swiss Trade Union Federationexternal link on Friday evening said the number was as high as "hundreds of thousands" during the day. This was before the larger protests planned for the evening had taken place.

The protests organised by trade unions come almost three decades after a 1991 strike, when women demanded that a constitutional article on equality of the sexes be translated into concrete legislation.

Women say unequal treatment persists, including lower pay, with women on average earning 20% less than men. Discrimination and the difficulty of combining work and family are also issues.
'Bigger than 1991'

"June 14, 2019 will go down as the largest political demonstration in the recent history of Switzerland, bigger even than the women's strike of 1991," the Swiss Trade Union Federation said in its statement.

Women have been marking the strike in all large cities in historic numbers. Particularly pleasing was the number of young women, it added. "This all shows that equality for women at work and in society must continue and will continue," the statement said.

+ The statistics underpinning women’s dissatisfaction in Switzerland
What happened during the day

In Bern, the capital, up to 40,000 turned out in front of the parliament building and in the streets.
jo3

The square in front of the parliament building was absolutely packed.
bern

Church bells tolled at 11.00 to mark the official beginning of the strike in several cities and towns; in Lausanne, women gathered during the night for a symbolic burning of objects such as bras and ties; in Zurich, demonstrators stopped the traffic from moving in the centre of the city. Around 70,000 people in all took part in the final demonstration at Helvetiaplatz, although some estimates had the numbers at twice this.

Around 12,000 people turned out to protest in Geneva.
geneva

geneva demo

Many people marched with banners, music and made noise to draw attention to issues like pay and lack of childcare.
Parliament, ministers

The Swiss parliament interrupted its session for 15 minutes. Several government members have also been active, including interior minister Alain Berset, who released a silent video to highlight the problems faced by women in Switzerland.
berset video

alain berset on the women's strike

(Berset captions: Equality between men and women is still not a reality; wage inequalities; worse pension plans; less women in leadership roles; more house and care work; domestic violence and assault; we need to finally change this; now #14Juni2019)

Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga was at a baccalaureate secondary school in Lausanne to talk to the students about equality. Young women were much more prepared to speak up than in her day, she noted.

The government also said that equality in all areas was a priority.

Meanwhile, a "tampon tax" petition, calling for lower VAT on feminine hygiene products and signed by more than 11,000 people, was handed in to parliament on Friday.
Strikes, a rarity

Although called a “strike”, many women have been concerned about neglecting their workplaces in a country where such strike action is rare. Symbolically, demonstrators have called for women to finish work at 15.24 on Friday afternoon, a time reflecting the 20% wage disparity with men.

Many women – and men, who are in support of the movement – are wearing fuchsia purple clothing on Friday, the symbolic colour of the event.

The strike has also been covered in the foreign media, including in the Financial Times and on the BBC. There was also support from the United Nations.
tweet5 un

Women on a square
Feminism
Why Swiss women are back on strike today

Keystone-SDA/Reuters/dos/ilj
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There are 32 comments on this article.
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"Lynx commented on the content at 14 June 2019 13:17".
Lynx Lynx 14-Jun-2019 13:17
I'm all for equality. But how many men have found a woman that will pay her own way and not expect the man to pay? I'd love it if my girlfriends paid for my drinks, food, holidays, etc quietly without making a song and dance about it. Also, what about equality for foreign workers, men as well as women? Until pay is included in job adverts, all discrimination related to salaries will continue to be hidden.
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"Stepbystep replied to the comment of Lynx at 15 June 2019 00:36."
Stepbystep 15-Jun-2019 00:36
I do. I always pay 50/50 on dates if possible and invite guys although they seem intimidated at times. And what aboutism? Really again? We are going to solve every problem, step by step. You don't have to scream "but what about this and that" every time someone mentions one specific issue. We can't mention everything at once. Patience my dear friend. And this strike was also about the equality for men as well. Maybe the next goal would be to cancel the obligatory military service? Or at least make everyone pay equally for it. And then change the biases of the judicial system that prefers to award the custody for the children mostly to the mothers, not the fathers. This bias should be erased as well. But for that we also need paternity leave, better support for childcare etc. Also have you seen men's toilets? They rarely have a baby changing station, mostly only women's toilets have them. We gotta find a solution for all those fathers, or let them use the women's bathrooms for changing their babies' nappies. (I don't think men's toilets with urinals are gonna be popular to bring your kids into, I think people are uncomfy with their little kids seeing some strangers private regions).

And foreigners are a whole nother topic, for another day. Maybe you can start the first step towards that and others will follow? Be the change you wanna see in the world
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"a wondering man replied to the comment of Stepbystep at 15 June 2019 14:05."
a wondering man 15-Jun-2019 14:05
I do agree fully with you about changes can only be made by step by step action and it seems to me that there are women out there with a mindset like yours.

However, I wonder, where are they? Like when it comes to dating, I haven't had yet experienced that a woman approaches me and takes me out, or that a woman agrees to pay 50/50. Even on dating site like Parship no woman did approach me, even though my profile says that I'm a liberal and equal thinking man who doesn't need a woman to do my housework. I'm in my midst thirties and I stood on my own feed since I left mothers hood with sixteen. An funny is, those women I've encountered are worse in doing housework then me, but that is not the point. The point is, I've encountered quite few women's who seemed at the beginning very liberal and also were standing for equal rights. However, as soon as we started to talk about family, kids and those kinda stuff, they turned back to the old picture. They rejected my idea of me staying home and raising the kids and do the housework, they said, a man can't do that, a man is not social competent enough to do it and other things. So, seriously? On one hand women are screaming for equal rights, but on the other hand they deny that a men can their job. In my view that looks so pathetic and smells fishy.
Though, I do not take this as an excuse to dismiss equality, not at all!
I am aware that equality will only approach by applying changes step by step. However, I really wonder where are those women with the mindset like yours?
Soon we will have summer and in my view another topic rises from the ground. Equality in the offices, particularly dress codes. Women have the choice to dress as light as they want, men can't, no short pants, nor open shoes or sandals, and in some case we can't even wear short sleeve shirts. On the contrary, women can wear the shortest mini skirt and top tanks and sandals - at least in my office and I work for ABB. If I come to the office with a long skirt and a T-shirt, first off, people will stair at me in disbelieve at the train and in the office, my boss will send me home or give me work were I will be hidden from every one. But as a woman that is totally okay - and that rises also the next topic about sexual discrimination and sexual harassment. Also, when a woman touches a man inappropriate it is seen as totally okay, but when a man does it to a woman...well, you know the story.
So, on one hand a man can't look at a woman or make compliments (not talking about touching) or he may face some serious consequences, on the other hand when a woman is interested on a man he has to do so and has to be a macho. I mean, seriously? What is this? And on the side, Latina's go even further how a man should approach her. And again, it is the man who has to approach, but not the woman. So the whole thing smells more and more fishy to me.
On one hand demanding equality and on the other hand demanding all the luxuries and treatments a women can get?
So as a liberal and equal oriented man who doesn't need a woman in the old fashion way - this is very confusing to me, and I still wonder where are those woman who talk about equality and also mean equality??
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"Lamuse replied to the comment of a wondering man at 16 June 2019 10:54."
Lamuse 16-Jun-2019 10:54
I am a woman and I agree with your points. These mentioned things have to be changed towards equality too and it is important that you mention them. However, a strike like this is is crucial to fight injustice, to defend women‘s rights and to change all the negative things mentioned in that strike to improve women’s situation
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"Stepbystep replied to the comment of a wondering man at 16 June 2019 21:33."
Stepbystep 16-Jun-2019 21:33
"where are they" ... in development! I mean I'm quite an outlier, but I've always been. And it takes time, loooots of time to change the mentality of people, especially if they already grew up with a certain expectation and understanding of the world that was taught to them. You can't undo that as easily, just as habits. As I said, some guys are intimidated exactly because this behaviour is not the norm. And idk how long it will take to make it the norm, if we look back on different developments, I guess maybe a decade? But only with a strong change, a strong movement. Otherwise it will take way longer. And a strong movement only happens when a multitude of people agree with each other, that's why I keep saying step by step. Gather a mass of people to change one thing rapidly, then move on to the next one when the change that has occurred has been "enough" to fix the biggest problems, we can still come back to the same topic a few years down the line to straighten out the details. But first we gotta focus on the biggest issues and tackle them step by step.

And I'm sorry, but dating is not one of the biggest issues. As desperate I am for that aspect to change as well, I think many other things are way more important to focus on, but I'm not saying one has to ignore the lower priority problems, just imo it makes more sense to focus on issues that tremendously affect the wellbeing of people, no matter their sex or gender.


Quote again: "On one hand women are screaming for equal rights, but on the other hand they deny that a men can their job. In my view that looks so pathetic and smells fishy."

Oh definitely not fishy at all, this is what gradual change is. Not everything changes at once and yes indeed it is paradoxical and enraging, but again step by step. There's plenty of such examples where people are ready to change half of their views even half of the outmost radical ones, but refuse to change the rest of their views. It happens all the time. It's really just irrationality, ignorance, lack of information and knowledge and maybe even experience that leads to those "half working" changes.

Have you ever heard of the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance? Shortly: Most of us humans suuuck at changing their mind when being confronted by 2 conflicting ideas at the same time. It's a whole book about neuropsychology and behaviour that I don't wanna open right now... but what I'm trying to tell you is, you're expecting way more intelligence and cognitive development than what is realistically possible with the majority of people, at least at the speed you (and I and many others) want it.

Shortly: most people have slow not as intelligent brains that require a long time to process change. You can try to speed this up by diverse tactics such as explaining, rationalising, showing them through experience etc. But again this all takes time and effort. That's why gather a mass of people to be able to put in this much effort quickly. And again, step by step to not overwhelm everyone. It's like educating a child, you have to understand the limitations you're working with when approaching a mass of confused and maybe even anxious people.

Oh dress codes have been bothering me since always as well... they just suck. I'm all for being able to wear whatever (i love my hawaii shirts), as long as it's not unhygienic or waay too unappropriate/revealing. Although ofc defining that will be a challenge.

"Also, when a woman touches a man inappropriate it is seen as totally okay, but when a man does it to a woman...well, you know the story."

No sorry I don't because if anyone finds any kind of sexual harrassment fine, then well they're wrong. And yeah I agree some people are still very intrusive and think the occasional shoulder or waist touch are fine...

And the last of your points are very personal issues... I'm sorry but I'm sure you are aware that those are issues that apply to you/your life because you've encountered them. If you encounter shitty people, avoid them. I can't force every shitty person to stop being shitty, but I can openly agree that they are being shitty if that is what you are asking.
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"Luisa replied to the comment of a wondering man at 17 June 2019 08:00."
Luisa 17-Jun-2019 08:00
Really? You're commenting an article about one of the biggest demonstration that happened just few days ago and you bring your dating experience? Sorry but the women you met aren't the only women in Switzerland and women aren't just (your) dating material!
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"Kiriti replied to the comment of Lynx at 15 June 2019 20:51."
Kiriti 15-Jun-2019 20:51
Good points to ponder. But such actions are important; even it is a start. Especially like your point about foreign workers of all creed and gender.
Write an answer...
"Eric commented on the content at 14 June 2019 18:39".
Eric 14-Jun-2019 18:39
This strick must continue until you all get the demand. If not won't get. Must have the demonstration on Saturday and Sunday if possible on Monday until you get the demand.
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"texswiss commented on the content at 14 June 2019 19:40".
texswiss 14-Jun-2019 19:40
There is no equality without compulsory military service for all Swiss citizens.
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"Stepbystep replied to the comment of texswiss at 15 June 2019 00:37."
Stepbystep 15-Jun-2019 00:37
I agree! Either let's make everyone participate or cancel it for everyone, or make everyone pay for it.
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"Bruno Schull replied to the comment of Stepbystep at 15 June 2019 12:18."
Bruno Schull 15-Jun-2019 12:18
Bravo stepbystep! I really appreciate your contribution, and I agree completely. Perspective such as your is lacking on this site. I think the changes you describe will happen slowly, gradually, step by step, for the great benefit of society, both women and men. But these steps will be contested and resisted at every stage, by those who are afraid of change and equality. Keep fighting!
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"Witschi replied to the comment of texswiss at 16 June 2019 21:54."
Witschi 16-Jun-2019 21:54
Such a boring and ignorantly self serving argument!
Equal and same are not the same thing. Men don’t give birth, but that doesn’t make them worth less then women (For example).
Again, equal value and equal status in a society is not the same as everybody doing the same things.
Thanks for thinking about this in future engagements.
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"SwissTed commented on the content at 14 June 2019 21:04".
SwissTed 14-Jun-2019 21:04
IT is a myth. Equality does not exist. We are all unique individuals with different abilities, skills and talents, different ways of doing things, Vive la difference, work together. Feminism has been weaponised by the far left to forge a gap between men and women. This is why in the English speaking countries women are leaving the ideology, cult in droves. It makes women look weak,unhappy the constant victim, always blaming the white man.
What about men's rights in employment? I have been told verbally and in writing that I did not get a job because they wanted a woman. How about the age gap, they only seek younger people.
The Swiss military, women can choose to do military service.
And this is the powerful advantage that women hold over men, CHOICE.
Women can choose a particular job. Women can choose to work more flexible hours after maternity leave women can choose what kind of job.
Men, we do not have the luxury of choice.
We have to work in the mines, sewers, oil rigs, sea fishing, science,construction sights, tech, military, military, security, medicine, etc,etc.
All people are equal but some are more equal than others. Women are more equal and in today's society hold all the trump cards and have so many opportunities. But instead of taking the opportunities it is easier to play the victim card and blame someone else.Women feel that there are automatically entitled to a job, based on the fact that they are a woman. That is the only qualification they need. And ofcourse once they realise that they do not have the required skills,experiences to do the job, they leave, become depressed and angry.
It is much easier, healthier, meaningful to be yourself and work hard.
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"Jo replied to the comment of SwissTed at 15 June 2019 15:28."
Jo 15-Jun-2019 15:28
White man, uh?
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"PropD replied to the comment of SwissTed at 16 June 2019 17:23."
PropD PropD 16-Jun-2019 17:23
@SwissTed....great post! You saved me a lot of explaining...LOL
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"Stepbystep replied to the comment of SwissTed at 16 June 2019 21:57."
Stepbystep 16-Jun-2019 21:57
Yeah biological differences exist but they don't matter as much and also.. you are aware of the fact one can have a female body but a rather more "male typical" developed neurology? And vice versa? Therefore a woman can have more male typical cognitive traits and vice versa. So you can't really judge someone from the outside. Plus each individual has a different sexual hormonal profile which influences neurology and behaviour as well and again, over all there is a tendency but again it's such a huge spectrum you can't put people in just two categories. We are all veery flexible on these spectrums, some things change throughout time while aging!

I agree about ceasing to use the name "feminism". While I feel like women are still a tiny bit more neglected overall I think progress has been made plenty enough that we can now just call it equalism/equality. In the end feminism (the old beginnings, the original ideas, not the nowadays people who adopted the name under a completely different ideology full of misandry) was all about fighting for equal rights, just the name was on purpose chosen with a focus on women because women back then had waaaaay less rights so they wanted a little extra focus to catch up that deficit. And as I said, I think we already caught up pretty nicely and we are all aware of the problems on both sides, so let's work together for a better world eh? Whatever we wanna call it. Earthism? Earthquality?

Yeah I don't agree about forced gender quotas in employment, there has to be a different way to make sure no candidate is excluded because of sex bias but at the same time also no candidate is taken in only because of the sex bias. But this is hella complicated, especially law wise... but it's not a point we're ignoring!

The age gap is a huge issue. There have been numerous highly qualified professionals complaining of unemployment, nobody wants them because the employers would have to pay high wages for such experience. So they use the excuse of "young workers not having as much experience" to pay them less, so they prefer hiring those...

I agree military shouldn't only be obligatory for one sex, or rather not obligatory for anyone at all. Should be changed so it's equal for everyone.

Idk how you grew up but my family made it through 2 world wars and all the women of my family worked in science, worked on farms, did hard work whenever they could/had to. Nobody forces people to go into those jobs and plenty of men could also become secretaries or cashiers. Nowadays you can do that, but I assume that the role of the man to be a high earner prevented them from being able to choose freely and without thinking about consequences beyond one's living requirements (women were met with the promise that they can marry someone who will provide for them). But again this is all changing, but give it time. It takes looots of time. I mean the people who were born in 1960 are still working right now, that's over 50 years ago. All the people from the 60's to the hmmm let's say 80's have to leave the work force for this to change because I'm sure they won't retrain/relearn a new profession to change their family/income earner dynamics. So.. focus on the new generations, what's going on there? Idk about the statistics, but I see more people wanting to earn money for themselves, no matter the sex. And men are less and less expected to pay for everything while women are more and more encouraged to take over financially. Again, change takes time. Especially when it's this "weird" all of a sudden for so many generations that grew up with a completely different world view. Hell, they grew up without computers and the internet! That's ages away.

You only see the trump cards you encounter.

I personally have been severely medically neglected based on the reason that I'm female and therefore "exaggerating" or "hysteric". I suffered severe health damages and lots of pain that made me want to kill myself for many years. If doctors had taken me seriously earlier... different story. And yes again, it was because I'm female. I've even had doctors tell me to accept severe menstrual pains that would be considered severely disabling just because "it's part of the life of a woman".

You don't see that, do you? You don't have to fear to be not taken seriously again when going to the doctor or the emergency room, do you? They even forgot me once in the ER. True story, won't mention which hospital obviously, but it was in Switzerland.

I could have died on some occasions. As men are pushed into dangerous jobs by expectations, women are endangered by other factors driven by sexism as well. We all suffer under sexism. There's no exception.

If you want a competition about who suffers more, I don't have time to participate. Can we just agree we all suffer and let's pick some of the most urgent issues even if you don't agree fully which is the most urgent and let's just grab the bull by its horns?
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"Luisa replied to the comment of SwissTed at 17 June 2019 08:09."
Luisa 17-Jun-2019 08:09
Really Swiss Ted? On which planet do you leave?
Women have the choice of choosing a job that pays them less! Or the choice of working part time while multitasking family and work!
Have you wondered that perhaps when they didn't give you that job they did so because as a man you would have asked much more money for the same work a woman can do for much less?
And hello? Women can do the same jobs men do ("mines, sewers, oil rigs, sea fishing, science,construction sights, tech, military, military, security, medicine, etc,etc." women do that too... And I don't see why they shouldn't or couldn't do as well as men.)
Before saying "it's easier to be the victim" try walking in our shoes. Being asked "you don't want to start a family soon right?" at a job interview, being scanned from head to toes when you walk around alone at night, being catcalled, being discriminated even at the doctor (seems like women's pain isn't taken seriously by doctors, this happens too), being mansplained or patronized.... I wish you could try for a day, then you would definitely understand.
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"Wanderer commented on the content at 14 June 2019 21:35".
Wanderer 14-Jun-2019 21:35
Never had Swiss women who did not pay their way. Had a good few who paid for me. Why? Treated them as equals and always woke up with a smile.
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"Hans commented on the content at 15 June 2019 08:11".
Hans 15-Jun-2019 08:11
I am most concerned about the trade off that these women are unwittingly going to give up.

Consider a big company, they can try to have you sign a contract where you gain the benefits of a man but it is a fixed 10 year term where you are forbidden to have children and work the same hours.

Even though this is not legal, companies will find a loop holes to accommodate.

Same goes for the military, instead of being voluntary for women, it will be compulsory.

We must think about the repercussions on mental health, physiological and sociological that this movement will have brought.
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"Kiwi girl in Switzerland replied to the comment of Hans at 15 June 2019 16:40."
Kiwi girl in Switzerland 15-Jun-2019 16:40
I have never been asked to sign a contract saying I won't have children, here or anywhere else that I have worked since having a child. What I have done is negotiated an altered contract that allowed me to work fewer hours while I raised a child. Equality should also apply here, and currently doesn't too much of the time.
Of course, when working 60% of full time hours I was also receiving 60% of full time salary and paying only 60% of pension contributions. So my earnings in retirement will be far less too.
I agree that military/community service should be mandatory for all if it is mandatory at all; and if it becomes that way, unless pay inequality is addressed, the long term financial wellbeing of women will be further disadvantaged.
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