French-speaking cantons sign gender equality charter
Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons on Friday signed in Lausanne a charter aimed at strengthening inter-cantonal cooperation on gender equality.
The initiative is part of canton Vaud’s 2023 presidency of the Conférence romande des bureaux de l’égalité. “Vaud, Geneva, Valais, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Jura and Bern welcomed the signing of a charter for equality between women and men in French-speaking Switzerland as a milestone,” they said in a press release.
The charter commits them to “creating a space for strategic dialogue aimed at strengthening work to promote equality, in particular by stimulating inter-cantonal cooperation and the exchange of good practice”.
Among the fields of action envisaged are equal pay and domestic violence.
“The fundamental right to equality between women and men enshrined in the Constitution and in the various international treaties signed by Switzerland has yet to be fully realised in practice,” said Vaud Minister Isabelle Moret, as cited in the press release. “That’s why, with this charter, we want to breathe new political life into this issue.”
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