Women’s rights in Switzerland: a transgenerational struggle

In 1975, at the request of the Swiss National Commission for UNESCO, a report was drawn up by the Institute of Sociology at the University of Zurich on the status of women in Switzerland. Four years after obtaining the right to vote at federal level, after some 80 years of struggle, it highlighted the multiple forms of discrimination to which women were subjected. Given the scale of these findings, a popular initiative, Equal Rights for Men and Women, was launched and approved in a revised version in 1981. Ten years later, only a dozen or so cases of pay discrimination had been brought before the courts. In view of the meagre progress made towards equality, despite the principle being enshrined in the Constitution, a women’s strike was organized on June 14, 1991, 10 years to the day after the vote.

This movement was summed up in a few very topical words: a women’s strike “to make noise”. To alert, to protest, to raise awareness on issues of training, wages, violence, division of labor, access to leadership positions, retirement conditions, and so on. In 2019, 38 years after the vote, the fight for equality is not over!

Echoing the women’s strike of June 14, we present a selection of documents on display at Unithèque from June 6 to 19.

Sylvia, Unithèque website