Women demonstrate in Lausanne ahead of a nationwide strike in Switzerland – Getty Image
By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Geneva
Women across Switzerland have begun a day of demonstrations against what they say is the country’s unacceptably slow pace to equality.
June 14, 2019 – Friday’s protest comes 28 years after similar action saw half a million women take to the streets in 1991.
Swiss women have long campaigned to accelerate the pace of gender equality.
They joined millions of other women in Europe after World War One ended in 1918 in demanding the right to vote – but did not get it until 1971.
At the time of the 1991 strike there were no women in the Swiss government, and there was no statutory maternity leave.
Appenzell, the last Swiss canton to refuse women the right to vote, had just been ordered to change its policy by Switzerland’s Supreme Court.
Even in the 1920’s women complained about the snail’s pace with which Switzerland was tackling equal rights at work – Photo: Gostell Foundation
How far has Switzerland come?
Some things have changed: there have since been eight female government ministers and the right to maternity leave is now enshrined in law.
However, women in Switzerland still earn on average 20% less than men, they are under-represented in management positions, and childcare remains not only expensive, but in short supply.
Last month, a survey by the International Labour Organisation put Switzerland bottom of the list in pay rates between men and women in senior roles.
Journalist Beatrice Born, who was six months pregnant with her first child when she joined the strike back in 1991, will be striking again on Friday.
We felt amazingly powerful that day. Because so many women took part. I thought, after this, nothing can stand in our way
Beatrice Born – Swiss journalist
When she returned to work following the birth of her daughter in 1991, she got something of a shock. No-one, it seemed, had expected her back, and certainly not full-time. “The resistance was huge,” she says.
Paola Ferro, one of the organisers of the 1991 strike, will be back on the streets on Friday, too.
My reasons are the same as they were in 1991 – gender justice – Paola Ferro – Strike organiser
She agrees that some progress has been made in the past 28 years, but points to the wage and pension gap. Swiss women’s pensions are 37% lower than men’s, primarily because women take time out from work to raise their children.
I’m taking part for all the women who aren’t able, or maybe aren’t brave enough to do what they want in life – Nicole – Aged 24
Why #frauenstreik is trending
A new strike was first suggested last year in response to parliament’s decision to introduce more scrutiny on equal pay.
The government’s move only related to companies with more than 100 employees, a measure that women trade union leaders dismissed as virtually meaningless.
Since then, women across the country have been mobilising, using social media to take advantage of the power of the hashtag.
#Frauenstreik – women’s strike in German – has been trending for days, along with #GrèvedesFemmes in French.
Events were staged in many of the main cities on Friday, including Bern, Sion and Lausanne, where women filled the station concourse to sing a feminist hymn.