Swiss women fold their arms
"Women fold their arms, the country loses its feet", was the slogan that mobilised 200,000 Swiss women — the country's biggest ever demonstration — on June 14. They were among the estimated half million women who participated in a strike for sexual equality called by the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions.
"It was initiated by women in the watch industry, where they are numerous and very low paid. In nearly all the watch making enterprises women stopped work for at least a short time", said Mergrit Meier, STUC secretary for women's and economic affairs. In some other areas, women went to work but wore pink or violet, the official colours for the day, displayed badges and stickers or refused to carry out vital tasks such as answering the telephone, Meier told Green Left.
Equal pay for equal work was one of the main demands of the day. On average Swiss women earn 30% less than men. Other claims included a demand for equitable sharing of domestic tasks between men and women, equal chances in professional life (it is estimated that at current rates of increase it will take 9125 years until women fill 40% of academic positions at universities), education for children based on sexual equality combined with respect for difference, adequate child-care facilities and maternity and paternity leave.
In downtown Zurich, women stormed department stores to give shopkeepers a break, sympathetic men set up open air ironing services and traffic was halted. Many city streets the women passed through were left "renamed" after prominent feminist personalities.
When the idea of a women's strike was first raised, said Meier, employers reacted with scorn. Later, when it was clear the strike would actually happen, they threatened immediate dismissal for participants. Finally, there was enough support among women workers to force them to accept it as a legitimate strike.
While its detractors claimed the strike was a failure because in many areas women did not strike, the action certainly raised public awareness of some aspects of discrimination against women. When asked if some male trade unionists felt this was a strike against them, Meier replied that they really had to be confronted with such issues. One of the aims of the day was to make men aware of the many unacknowledged family and household tasks that women generally perform.
For many women, Switzerland is perhaps best known as the country that did not introduce female suffrage at a federal level until 1971. That the main trade union organisation would call such an action shows, however, that Swiss women have effectively made their presence felt within what are often male dominated institutions. Can you imagine the ACTU or the NSW Labour Council following suit?
By Sally Low