Thousands expected to demonstrate in Swiss ‘feminist strike’

The colour of the Swiss women's movement: expect lots of purple in Swiss cities on Saturday. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Women are taking to the streets in 25 Swiss towns and cities on Saturday to mark the “feminist strike”.

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Organisers of the annual event say equality between men and women in Switzerland is still a long way off. Women earn on average CHF1,364 ($1,679) less than men, despite a legal right to equal pay, according to the Swiss Trade Union Federation, which adds that more than half of Swiss firms do not comply with the legal obligation to carry out equal pay analyses.

Unions say these policies have failed, and are therefore calling for compulsory checks and fines for companies which refuse to check their pay practices or which discriminate.

“We are not satisfied with the government’s announcement that it will wait until the end of 2027 to finish its analysis of the Equality Act. We plan to demand more immediate measures,” Cyrielle Huguenot, central secretary of the trade union federation, told Keystone-ATS.

Professions with a high proportion of women also continue to be paid less. More than half of all women earn less than CHF4,200 a month, while a quarter earn CHF2,500 or less.

These low wages are not only due to the fact that many women work part-time; they’re also linked to structural discrimination, say the unions. Female professions are generally less well paid, while experience and seniority lead to lower pay rises for women than for men.

In female-dominated professions, a general pay rise is therefore a priority, they say. They demand that people who have completed an apprenticeship must earn at least CHF5,000 francs per month.

Half of women meanwhile say they have been victims of sexual or sexist harassment in the workplace. Unions are thus calling for a binding zero-tolerance policy.

Demonstrations and events will take place on Saturday in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Lugano, St Gallen, and Zurich, among other places.

Huguenot says it’s hard to predict what the turnout will be. “But June 14 is well established in the diaries of feminist activists. And given that the demonstrations take place on a Saturday, and in view of the international backlash, we can expect a good turnout,” she told Keystone-SDA.

Adapted from French by DeepL/dos

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