Swiss Review 3/2019

Swiss Review / May 2019 / No.3 18 Society Women on strike, Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich (1991) Photo: Keystone SUSANNE WENGER Let us start by looking back, because doing so helps us to better understand the present. Something unusual hap- pened in Switzerland on 14 June 1991. Half a million women answered the call of female trade unionists and women’s organisations by striking for gender equality. “Wenn Frau will, dann steht alles still” (“If it’s a wom- an’s will, everything will stand still”) was Lucerne musician Vera Kaa’s throaty refrain in the 1991 campaign song. The strike had a broad message, focusing not only on paidwork but on cooking, cleaning and caring as well – the unpaidwork that normally falls on the shoulders of women. That Friday in early summer saw a range of different actions across the country – fromisolatedmini-walkouts and numerous “symbolic” strikes, to demonstrations and more creative forms of protest. Elfie Schöpf, the jour- nalist who coordinated the women’s strike, summarised theday inher book “Frauenstreik: Ein Anfang” (“The first women’s strike”), whichZytglogge, the Berne-based publishing company, printed one year later: “For the first time in Swiss history, hundreds of thousands of women came together to remind the country of the indispensa- ble role that they play in society.” Pans in the window Armed with whistles and violet bal- loons, the demonstrators illegally oc- cupied the square in front of parlia- ment, Berne’s Bundesplatz, whilemen ironed shirts around the corner in sol- idarity. Housewives hung pans in their kitchen windows. Nurses pinned the strike badge on their uniforms. Fe- male watch workers called for higher wages. Women magistrates stayed at home. The Swiss Association of Agri- cultural Women highlighted the dis- crimination suffered by female farm- ers. One particular sex worker closed her brothel for the day. Even the Swiss Catholic Women’s League showed their support. It was the biggest pro- test in Switzerland since the 1918 gen- eral strike. Womenwere protesting about the slow implementation of the article on equality enshrined in the Federal Constitution exactly ten years before. Wage equality was a key issue. At the beginning of the 1990s, women in Switzerland earned on average a third less than men. Other strike demands included closing gaps in social secu- rity, creating more nursery places, sharing the burden of housework be- tweenmen andwomen, and stopping violence against women. Women’s strike added impetus Attitudes to gender equality have been slow to evolve in Switzerland. Swiss women had to wait until 1971 to vote – decades after women in other Euro- pean countries. The final male bastion only fell a fewmonths before the 1991 strike, when Appenzell Innerrhoden became the last Swiss canton to grant women the right to vote. Each stepwas hard-earned. Thewomen’s strike also helped tomove things forward – even though parliament later blocked Ge- nevan social democrat and master- mind of the women’s strike, Christi- ane Brunner, frombeing appointed to the Federal Council. One year after the women’s strike, marital rape became a crime in Swit- A newwomen’s strike for greater equality Almost 30 years since the first major women’s strike in Switzerland, women will be voting with their feet again on 14 June. Some of their demands have not changed.