Swiss unions blast low wages for ‘women’s jobs’

Debate rages about why jobs such as hairdressing pay less than other professions. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Careers with a higher proportion of women workers suffer from lower wages, Swiss trade union leaders complained ahead of next month’s Women’s Strike.

Sectors such as childcare, social services and hairdressing, which attract a large number of female employees, are usually the worst paid, says the Swiss Trade Union Federation on Tuesday.

“The higher the proportion of women in an industry, the lower the wages of the apprentices,” said federation Vice-President Vania Alleva. “This clearly shows that it is not just about individual professions – there is a structural inequality.”

Four out of ten women earn less than CHF5,000 ($5,577) a month and 25% earn under CHF4,500, according to trade union research. The official poverty line in Switzerland is defined as CHF2,289 per month for a single person and CHF3,989 for two adults and two children.

The gender pay gap will be the central focus of this year’s Women’s Strike on June 14, along with a protest of other forms of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

But employers have rejected trade union demands for higher pay for so-called “women’s jobs”.

“Pay levels are calculated according to the added value that certain jobs bring. The same goes for men as well as goes for women,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Employers’ Association told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

“Simply raising wages would increase the cost of services and products.”