The Long Struggle of Swiss Women for their Rights
The Swiss have a reputation of being slow on the
uptake, and I am sure this is an unfair prejudice. But still, things take longer in Switzerland.
With their grassroots democracy, it just takes more time to get things done. Tradition
is important and it is hard to make changes.
A Swiss friend was taking me to the railway station in
Zurich in her car, and she had turned on the GPS device to find the way. The deep
male voice, speaking slowly in the dialect of the canton of Bern, was no great
help, as she would already have passed the crossings by the time the
instructions were completed. Not so useful, but amusing entertainment.
Women in Switzerland were not slow in demanding the
right to vote, but it took more than 100 years of tireless work to get the men
in Switzerland to vote in favor of women’s suffrage. It’s not so easy to give
up power and privileges. On 7 February 1971, Swiss women were finally granted
the right to vote and stand for election. Democracy began for half of the
population. Even with the right to vote, women’s equality did not come
automatically. Today, a strong women’s movement in Switzerland is looking back
at the long struggle.
The women of Zurich were the first to demand the right
to vote in 1898. Five years later the Swiss Federation of Women Workers
officially called for women to have the right to vote and stand for election.
The Socialist Party (SP) was the first party to support the cause of women,
starting in 1904. In 1909, several associations for women's suffrage came
together to form the Swiss Association for Women’s Suffrage (ASSF).
In 1918, two motions demanding women’s suffrage were submitted to the
National Council. They were forwarded to the Federal Council, which left them,
ignored, in a drawer. In 1929, the ASSF submitted a petition to the Federal
Chancellery, but it made no impact. During the economic crisis of the 1930s,
demands for women’s suffrage became weaker. Conservative thinking led to the
housewife becoming the model for the role of women. In 1951, a Federal Council
report concluded that a federal vote on female suffrage was premature.
As the Cold War progressed, the government wanted to introduce the
obligation for women to do civil protection service. Several women’s
organizations joined forces in objecting. How could women be obliged to serve
when they still did not have the right to vote? The project met with public
controversy and led to the Federal Council submitting a bill on women’s
suffrage in 1957. As always, things took their time, as both parliamentary
chambers had to approve the bill. Finally, on February 1, 1959, Swiss men voted by a clear majority against
the introduction of national women's suffrage and women's right to vote. It
was therefore the male citizens who did not want to share their power and thus
denied their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters democratic rights.
When in 1968, the Federal Council considered signing
the European Convention on Human Rights
without accepting the clause concerning women’s political rights, massive
protests from women’s associations broke out. This finally led to the Swiss
government organizing a new vote on women’s suffrage on February 7, 1971, which
finally gave women the right to vote. At the start of the 1971 winter session,
the first eleven female members of parliament took their seats, each being
welcomed with a rose. However, the first elected women were subjected to strong
pressure to adapt to a federal policy forged by men. Some of these women MPs
actively campaigned for their civil rights; all of them showed huge
determination in their careers. Indeed, these women were pioneers in just about
every field in which they were involved, whether professionally or politically.
Women had demonstrated and worked towards this goal for 50 years. Maybe the
reason for the positive outcome was that it was just too embarrassing for the
nation to deny women this right.
However, women in the canton of Appenzell had to wait another 20 years before
they were allowed to vote.
In contrast to most other European countries, many
Swiss women remember the introduction of women's suffrage in 1971 from their
own experience or even fought for it. Women in Switzerland today are
embarrassed that it took so long for women to be allowed to participate in
democracy. How will they tell their granddaughters that voting rights didn’t
exist in Switzerland when they were their age?
So what is the benefit of women having more
power? More than one fundamental legislative provision would never have seen
the light of day without the entry of women parliamentarians. Diversity opens
minds and women recognize and pinpoint weaknesses in legislative measures.
Women in Swiss politics have caused laws to be revised that affect women:
maternity leave, reduction of the pay gap, reform of marriage laws. They still
have a long way to go. Politics in Switzerland are still very much in male
hands and women have to fight to achieve more involvement by women. Discrimination is often indirect and unconscious,
being based on old gender stereotypes that permeate the culture.
On June 14, 2019, women took to the streets
again in a women’s strike, demonstrating for more gender equality and against
abuse. Women in Switzerland are conscious that
much more needs to be addressed and that gender equality will only be reached
through continued activism. Emilie Gourd[1] stated, "Without the
emancipation of women, the concept of democracy is only hypocrisy and
lies." According to Karin Keller-Sutter, Federal Councillor,
Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, „Women's suffrage laid
the foundation for a democracy in which women and men have equal opportunities
and share responsibility. It was therefore not only a democratic political
achievement but also a socio-political one.“
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