Women campaign for a bigger role in Swiss politics

With national elections in October this year, several political parties are seeking more female representation in parliament. This is how women in one eastern Swiss canton are going about it.

Appenzell Outer Rhodes was one of the last two cantons to give women the vote at cantonal level, in 1989, even though they had already won it at national level in 1971. Women there are campaigning to change the fact that the canton’s executive branch currently has no female representation. 

Women from Appenzell Outer Rhodes already made progress in this year’s cantonal parliament elections, increasing their representation in the legislative body to about one third. The cantons of Zurich, Basel Country and Lucerne also increased their proportion of elected women.