Swiss women strike to demand equal pay
SWITZERLAND-Hundreds of thousands of women across Switzerland have taken to the streets to demand higher pay, greater equality and more respect, protesting that one of the world’s wealthiest countries continues to treat half its population unfairly. Nearly 30 years after the first nationwide equal rights demonstration by Swiss women, a ‘purple wave’ of pram marches, whistle concerts, extended lunch breaks, giant picnics and city-centre rallies took place on yesterday.
“In 2019, we are still looking for equality”, Clara Almeida Lozar, one of the committee women organising the Grève des Femmes or Frauenstreik at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, told Swissinfo. “We realise there has to be a lot more than this – the culture of sexism is part of everyday life in Switzerland, it’s invisible, and we are so used to just getting along that we hardly even notice it’s there.” Switzerland lags behind many of its European neighbours in gender equality. Swiss women only got the vote in 1971, decades after most of the western world, and until 1985 needed their husbands’ approval to work or open a bank account. Statutory maternity leave was introduced only in in 2005, while professional women earn on average nearly 19 percent less than men – and 8 percent less with the same qualifications. According to a recent Amnesty International survey, 59 percent of Swiss women say they have experienced sexual harassment. Along with broader anger over sexism and workplace inequality, many demonstrators demanded higher pay specifically for cleaners, teachers, care workers and other jobs more often performed by women.
(The Guardian)