Blocking the tram lines in Zurich and lighting the Lausanne Cathedral in violet, hundreds of women mobilized across Switzerland today to celebrate national feminist strike day

This day ended with demonstrations in many big and small towns, to the sound of drums, slogans and songs. The women’s requests for this year were: “Respect, Time, Money.”

The women’s strike, which was organized for the first and only time in 1991, was revived in 2019 by a new generation of activists. It is a day of mobilizations, during which women are asked to leave work early to protest against wage inequality, discrimination against them, harassment and sexual violence. The strike coincides with the anniversary of the adoption of the principle of equality between men and women in the Constitution on 14 June 1981.

It should be noted that Switzerland was one of the last Western countries to grant women the right to vote, only in 1971.

Organizers did not give an attendance tally, and Swiss authorities do not usually make announcements about the size of protests.

In Zurich, where tens of thousands of female protesters took to the streets, according to the media, the city council meeting was interrupted in support. According to Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS, around 300 people blocked the tram lines in a square on the fringes of the strike, but were dispersed by police intervention.

Pot ‘concerts’, gatherings in the squares and picnics with music set the pace for a mobilization involving women of all ages, dressed in pink, purple and violet. In the capital Bern, women organized a rally outside the Federal Building, the seat of parliament and government, to demand their rights. “We vow to fight for equality for all people in this country,” they chanted, fist raised.

In Switzerland, some progress has been made in recent decades in recognizing women’s rights. In 2002 abortion was decriminalized and in 2005 paid maternity leave of 14 weeks was instituted. From 2021, paternity leave lasting two weeks is also given. But places in nurseries are limited and expensive, which constitutes a serious disadvantage for the professional development of women.