Swiss women from all over the country took to the streets to protest against gender inequality in the pay scale of employees. The women clad in purple, took to the streets with posters and slogans like “Eliminate the Patriarchy”, “We can do it” etc.
Switzerland while being one of the most prominent countries in the world is still handicapped with inequality. Swiss women were only given the right to vote in 1971, decades after their European and western counterparts. Until 1985, women needed permission from their husbands to work or even open a bank account.
On an average women earn almost 19% less than men. About 91% of domestic help jobs are held by women in comparison to only 8% of engineering jobs. The balance in having males and females represented equally in all sectors of work is frail at best. Years of patriarchy and oppression has resulted in this uprising.
In 1991, in a similar fashion, over 500,000 women took to the streets to protest against inequalities which compelled the government to implement the “Equality Act” demanding for equal pay and representation.
Since then Switzerland did elect their first woman President of the federal council- Ruth Deifruss. “Wage equality has not been achieved. That is a good reason to go on strike” she said. “I think a lot of us thought change would just happen automatically after 1991, but it hasn’t and it won’t. This goes very deep; it’s structural. We’re going to have to fight for what we deserve” said Marie-Laure Fabre, a participant.
Women in protest, boycotted shops and restaurants and also snub housework for the day to make people aware about the dependency of the system on females. While some employers were supportive of their employees, many were not as understanding, threatening to book those days as holidays.
The events started in Lausanne overnight, when women rung the bell of the cathedral which was lit up in purple lights followed by a “bonfire of joy”. Since then, the purple wave has spread all over the country encouraging women to fight for their basic rights.
