Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss women take to streets again to fight inequality

Women s Strike in Lausanne in 2022
Thousands of women have participated in Swiss-wide strikes since 2019. Keystone/cyril Zingaro

Thousands of women are expected to attend strike action across Switzerland on June 14, with trade unions demanding equal pay.

The gender pay gap will be the central focus of this year’s Women’s Strike, along with a protest of other forms of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

+ Why women went back on strike after 30 years

The Swiss Trade Union Federation said on Tuesday that women took home 43% less income than men on average last year.

Some of this discrepancy can be explained by more women working part-time hours and taking on lower paid jobs such as cleaning.

But women also earn 18% less than men for doing comparable jobs, making Switzerland one of the worst countries in Europe for unequal pay.

+ The statistics on Swiss workplace inequality 

The Trade Union Federation complained that “virtually no progress” had been made on women’s rights since the first national strike in 2019.

This includes a continued lack of child day-care facilities that would enable more women to work.

Coming soon Lost Cells A podcast uncovering the human stories behind private stem cell banking's promises and failures. Get notified

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Station crowd

More

Cohesion in Switzerland perceived as weak

This content was published on Two-thirds of Swiss people feel that cohesion in the country is “rather weak”, according to a study. Some 83% of respondents even felt that the sense of community was declining.

Read more: Cohesion in Switzerland perceived as weak
Solothurn voters reject minimum wage of 23 francs per hour

More

Solothurn voters reject minimum wage of CHF23 per hour

This content was published on Employees in the Swiss canton of Solothurn will not receive a minimum wage of CHF23 ($25.30) per hour. Voters have clearly rejected a left-wing popular initiative for a minimum wage.

Read more: Solothurn voters reject minimum wage of CHF23 per hour
Young people in Lucerne still only vote at the age of 18

More

Voting age in Lucerne to remain at 18

This content was published on Voters rejected the constitutional initiative on lowering the voting age to 16 on Sunday with 79.1% of votes against.

Read more: Voting age in Lucerne to remain at 18

In compliance with the JTI standards

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

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR