Employment among women highest in French-speaking Switzerland

French-speaking women in Switzerland are more likely to have jobs than other language groups swissinfo.ch

Women in French-speaking Switzerland are far more likely to hold down jobs than their counterparts in the rest of the country, according to a new study by the National Science Foundation.

The study, presented in Bern on Thursday, took the form of an atlas, which provides “maps” showing similarities and differences in the situation of women across the country.

The broad picture reveals that most Swiss continue to live in traditional nuclear families, in which women tend the home and raise the children while men bring home the bacon.

Among Swiss nationals, women in some 66 per cent of families are full-time housewives, compared to 43 per cent for immigrant families.

The study found that, on average, mothers in the French-speaking part of the country were more likely to work than their German- or Italian-speaking counterparts.

The number of working mothers is highest in cities, agricultural communities and areas that depend on tourism, while those in poorer and less socially developed communities tend to work least.

swissinfo with agencies