Navigation

Part time is the norm for working women

Figures just released show a mixed picture of sexual equality in Switzerland compared with neighbouring countries.

This content was published on January 11, 2008 - 11:46

The Federal Statistics Office report says that in international comparison a relatively large number of women in Switzerland work – 59 per cent of women had a job in 2005. In Europe only Denmark, Norway and Iceland have a higher percentage of women in work.

Since 1990 the number of women in employment has increased by ten per cent. But the study says nearly three out of five work part time, demonstrating the difficulty of combining work and childcare in Switzerland.

In 2003-2004, 44 per cent of university graduates were women. Of those receiving doctorates 37 per cent were women. These levels were relatively low in international comparison, the Statistics Office said.

In terms of female representation in parliament, Switzerland was slightly above average, at 29.5 per cent. Neighbouring Austria and Germany did better, with 32 per cent. Italy and France trailed behind, on 17 and 19 per cent respectively.

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Sort by

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.