Effective measures demanded against Swiss wage discrimination
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Effective measures demanded against Swiss wage discrimination
The Swiss government must act to eradicate wage discrimination against women, says a coalition of 52 organisations. Despite the obligation for large companies to analyse salaries, wage discrimination remains and is increasing, it said.
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“A woman loses an average of around CHF8,000 ($9,000) a year in salary. This is no longer acceptable”, said the Coalition against Wage Discrimination on Monday in an open letter addressed to the government in the run-up to International Women’s Rights Day on March 8.
In a press release published by the union Travail.Suisse, the coalition demanded that “effective measures finally be taken”. In its view, measures based on non-sanctionable directives, or even voluntary action, are not enough.
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The revised Equality Act, which came into force over four years ago, stipulates that companies with more than 100 employees must monitor their employees’ salaries to detect unexplained differences between men’s and women’s pay. A study published last year by Travail.Suisse points to numerous shortcomings and flaws in the system, according to the press release.
The organisations signing the open letter are calling for active monitoring of compliance with legal obligations, the introduction of sanctions and the obligation to repeat the salary analysis every four years. The law should also be extended to all companies with more than 50 employees, they argue.
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Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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