Geneva - Thousands of women downed tools and took to
the streets across Switzerland on Friday to strike for equal pay and
against various forms of gender discrimination.
Protests started before dawn as women formed motorcades, banged pots
and pans, and burned their bras, in cities including Geneva and
Lausanne, public broadcaster SRF reported.
Female parliamentarians, many of them dressed in the protest colour
purple, left the chamber for 15 minutes in the late morning in Bern
to show their solidarity with the women's strike.
Swiss women earned an average gross monthly salary of 6,491 Swiss
francs (6,533 dollars) in 2016, 18.3 per cent less than men,
according to the most recent official statistics.
Florilège des pancartes de la #Grevedesfemmes2019à la Sallaz à #Lausanne pic.twitter.com/j8aY72wXbV
— Pauline Turuban (@PaulineTuruban) June 14, 2019
Switzerland ranks near the bottom when it comes to family-friendly
policies, according to a survey of the world's wealthiest countries
that was published by the UN Children's Fund this week. Swiss women
only get eight weeks of paid maternity leave.
Protests were happening in various towns and cities on Friday, as
unions called for mandatory wage comparisons between women and men,
as well as shorter weekly working hours to make time for childcare.
The strike movement brought together different groups such as
teachers, who stayed away from their classrooms in Basel, and female
farmers, who voiced their demands for better pension plans.
Today Swiss Women go on Strike to fight for gender equality, equal pay, and against sexist violence and discrimination. #Grevedesfemmes2019 pic.twitter.com/YsmdbsBClB
— Lucie Kaempfer (@lukaempf) June 14, 2019
A petition for lowering the sales tax for tampons that was signed by
more than 11,000 people was handed over to parliament by activists in
Bern.