Swiss Women To March For Equal Pay

Geneva, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2019 ) :Women across Switzerland are set to walk off the job and into the streets Friday to demand wage parity, nearly three decades after staging the country's first nationwide strike for equal pay.

Events planned throughout the day range from pram marches, to whistle concerts, to extended lunch breaks and giant picnics, with huge demonstrations planned Friday evening in several cities, including in front of the government in Bern.

Unions and rights groups organising the events are hoping to see a sea of purple -- the colour chosen to show solidarity with the cause -- but in a country where work stoppages are extremely rare the turnout remains uncertain.

On June 14, 1991 -- 10 years after equality between the sexes was enshrined in the Swiss constitution -- half a million women walked out of their workplaces or homes to protest persistent inequalities.

Three decades on, however, the organisers of Friday's events say things have barely improved, insisting women need to demand "more time, more money, more respect".

Women in Switzerland on average still earn 20 percent less than men.

And for men and women with equal qualifications, the wage gap remains nearly eight percent, according to the national statistics office.

Riding the wave of the global #MeToo movement, a new generation of women is attacking the lingering issues of discrimination, harassment and wage inequality with renewed vigour.

Organisers have called upon women to snub their jobs, and also housework, for the entire day to help raise awareness about the vital contribution women make across society.

"Really, the objective is to block the country with a feminist strike, a women's strike," activist Marie Metrailler told AFP recently.

Strikers will also be demanding zero tolerance for violence against women and more respect and better pay for women's work, including through the introduction of a minimum national salary.