Zurich has become the first Swiss canton to appoint a delegate to help deal with questions affecting local men and fathers.
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Thirty-nine-year-old Markus Theunert, a psychologist and sociologist, who is president of a men’s and fathers’ association, was chosen by Zurich’s department of justice and will start work on July 1.
Zurich set up a gender equality office 20 years ago and since then the employment and training situation for women has improved, despite the fact that women earn on average 18.4 per cent less than men doing exactly the same job.
However, men often have difficulty reconciling work and family life, the Zurich government said in a statement on Wednesday.
The authorities therefore decided to create a men’s delegate post, which reports to the cantonal gender equality office.
Since 2005 Theunert has been head of “Männer.ch”, the organisation of men’s and fathers’ groups, where he has been active on paternity leave and equality issues.
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