DENISE LACHAT First there was anger. Tensions broke out on 26 September, the day after the vote on the OASI pension reforms, including in Bahnhofsplatz in Berne. National Councillor for the Socialist Party Tamara Funiciello proclaimed heatedly into the microphone, in front of several hundred female demonstrators, that the outcome of the vote was simply disgraceful. “Old, rich white men” had decided that women in Switzerland would have to work for one extra year in the future. Indeed, a majority of men had voted to raise the retirement age for women to 65, against the will of the majority of women. The disparity between the sexes was particularly marked during this vote: two thirds of the women who voted (63%) came out against the reform, whereas only around one third of men (37%) voted No. However, a majority of (largely urban) women also contributed to the exceedingly close outcome of the vote. These women also came under fire from Funiciello. The centre-rightnational and state councillors had, she said, done absolutely nothing for the cause, of equality aside from making empty promises. The exasperated reaction from urban politicians was not long in coming: in the days following the vote, pot shots were launched from both sides, and there was talk that women in Switzerland were divided. Improving women’s situation in old age Subsequently, further conciliatory opinions came to the fore. There is not one single definition of feminist Retirement age for women is rising to 65 The ‘vote of the year’ was a tense moment for women. They voted No by a large majority on the reforms to the old-age and survivors’ pension (OASI). However, they were narrowly defeated. Women will have to work for one more year before they are able to draw their pension. The reform of the occupational pension scheme is pending, and should see women better off. politics, and not all women have to be equal, the way not all men are, said Maya Graf in an comprehensive interview with the “Aargauer Zeitung” newspaper. Graf, the Green Party state councillor for Baden, has, together with Green Liberal National Councillor for Berne Kathrin Bertschy, co-chaired Alliance F, the umbrella organisation for women in Switzerland, since 2014. Alliance F had both a Yes and a No committee for the pension vote. Other questions were met “Dini Mueter isch hässig” (Your mother is furious): one of the slogans brandished by women protesting against the results of the OASI vote. Photo: Keystone Retirement age for women The retirement age for women was the focal point for debate in this reform of the old age and survivors’ pension (OASI), and not for the first time. In 1948, when the OASI was introduced, the retirement age was 65 for both men and women. The fact that parliament unilaterally reduced women’s pension age to 63 in 1957 and then to 62 in 1964 appears an expression of antiquated values today. Women are more prone to illness and their strength fails sooner – the arguments put forward by men in those days. The “Tages Anzeiger” called it a “patriarchal show of strength”, designed to ensure that women would be back to looking after the home a couple of years before their husbands’ retirement. Whatever the situation, the retirement age for women was progressively increased in 2001 and then in 2005, to 63 and then 64. Three additional attempts at securing equality were voted down or defeated in parliament. After the fourth attempt on 25 September 2022, the age has now returned to 65 for both genders. (DLA) Swiss Review / December 2022 / No.6 16 Politics
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