Do you think they really realized what they were saying ?

Trying to give him the benefit of any doubt, he may have been saying that they were attempting to keep the traditional family unit.

Considering most of the political debate I read about these days is basically a pissing contest which gains very little ground either way, I would say the statement is quite possibly not far from the truth (at least for me)...

Hm, that quote is pretty pathetic, actually. Letting women vote has nothing to do with how little time or interest they might want to or be able to take in political affairs. For some, it is important and a priority, so let's give them the legislature allowing them. Does not mean they slack on the family life part.

I am glad to have grown up with a female role model who wasn't able to vote in democratic elections for decades, and then when freedom happened, she became one to vote for and represented our community/region/mindset on a gov level, in a very dignified and humane way. It's not only about being able to vote, but also letting women participate in political life of the country.

I do not feel at home until I am able to vote and feel like I can make a difference, be it in the actual voting bit, or getting ready for it, getting informed, being able to help out and participate in community life. I appreciate the fact that some communities in our region actually let foreigners vote on local matters, very enlightened.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Thanks MC. So true, we really are.

He of course was right in criticizing the point that his folks were not told much earlier about the matter with the federal constitution. But he was wrong by assuming that average CH people paid much attention to what they up in Appenzell did. In fact, if somebody mentioned A.I., the response was "ahhhh , natüüürlich, diä Appezäller ....."

As a result of the federal structure in Switzerland, which gave cantons and local councils substantial independence, women were permitted to vote as early as 1957 in local councils in Wallis and Basel-Stadt. Universal suffrage was introduced in a few cantons beginning in 1959 such as in the cantons of Vaud and Neuchatel, followed by Geneva in 1960.

Much can be said about the skewed revision of electoral laws in the country, some of it may well be a result of a closed and conservative society that was geographically secluded and not subject to many of the upheavals that Europe had to go through. The French occupation played an important role in bringing in substantial changes to Swiss society. There may well be many studies on the reasoning behind such behaviour, which try to explain having the men out on the front and the womenfolk sewing socks to keep their (menfolk's) feet warm during the Second World War.

WWII had an enormous influence onto the matter, as due to the mobilisation (General-Mobilmachung) the women in many places had to fill the places left by the man in "military age". And there of course simply was a change of generations taking place which lead to the inevitable modernisation.

Today women are striking with the idea of getting equal pay for men and women for the same jobs.
News article in German here.

As long as they have these nutty school hours, with minimal (and expensive) out of school care options, anyone who ends up breeding, will not get equal pay.

I am very interested in how Pascale Bruderer's career will be developing in the near and distant future.

Mrs Bruderer is self-employed (has a consultancy together with her sister, is president of the anti-cancer society, and the parliamentary job is not a full time affair, so that I expect her to find solutions.

Nutty school hours are... nutty! But there is nothing to say that the mum has to stay behind to deal with this. That choice is yours- and little to do with Switzerland, really. If women accept this as the default system, there is little hope. I totally agree btw that these timings are mad (not the case in my area though). But there is a way around any problem- for instance finding somebody to look after your child/dren during the lunch hour and feed them. Get a group on a rosta to do this, etc, etc. Same for Wednesday pm. Why let the system beat you? Where there is a will, there is a way, even in CH, honest. Good luck.

40 years on and yet Womens rights in switzerland is still no where near many people would like it to be

- women having a majority in the Federal government
- a woman being CH Federal President 2011
- women holding vital positions in Cantonal + Municipal governments
- women holding highest offices in Cantonal+Municipal parliaments
- women in managerial positions throughout the economy
- women practicall deciding votes and elections
- women not having to do military service
-
so what ?

Yep.

Dealt with this whilst I lived in CH. My wife is the primary income and I could not work or the childcare costs would probably have been more than my income due to the requirement that they be based on the combined household income. Pays to stay home and do nothing.

Also, women still basically can't easily get control of their bank accounts. For example, my wife was the only reason that we could get a CS account as she holds an EU passport and I hold one from the US. Yet all correspondence was addressed to me even though she was the primary applicant and all of the money came from her work direct deposit and I wasn't even allowed to have an account on my own. I was allowed to do anything to the accounts and to her cards and debit limits simply for the asking. It was convenient for us in that case but damned peculiar, considering all of the privacy issues. Especially considering we don't have the same last name.

Women aren't quite officially real people in the CH, yet. Regardless of what the law says, until the practical day to day realities are changed, nothing has really changed.

Having said that, there are, quite a few, worse places to be double X chromosomed.


That last one isn't actually a good thing. It means they aren't good enough.
Practically is the same as saying not really. You do the deciding or you don't. I'd say that mostly, they still don't.
The rest are mostly minor details. Since women constitute slightly more than 50% of the general population they aren't really represented if they are only occasionally holding various positions and offices of real power through out officialdom, government and business. Yeah, especially that last one.

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Many men, of course, became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of, because no one was really poor -- at least no one worth speaking of. - Douglas Adams

I've also experienced the bizarre bank account thing.
I have to go through a little round of verification every single time I call on our joint accounts.
He called about my private account once, announced himself as my husband, and they immediately provided him with everything he needed to know. Privacy my **s.

You can beat it, as time goes, slowly and by networking, steadily ace performing, accepting you will be a lot more inspected and tested, one has to keep more than professional attitude, and then you slowly become a bit more real...You will still get bewildered looks, but never cared for those. It's important to not let things get under your skin, even if one comes from a culture with "women can always achieve more than men if they feel like it" kind of attitude ..It's not easy though, and on top of that, not all female careers are created equal, so the equality is happening a lot faster in fields that bring instant cash to gov and business, than in fields that are not as highly rewarded or in fields that need long investments in edu before the career is bring some cash into the communal budgets..

Cosmetics. I agree. The few numbers to keep the stats on somewhat generally ok level is not going to really change how difficult the journey can be for girls in a regular, small place, with education everybody was telling them it would suffice, with attitude of overexerting oneself and demanding more from the system will lead to certain death.

That said, tings are slowly getting on the right track. And, in a system with so many resources, I do trust that when it gets right, it might actually be more right than anywhere else, if we allow inspiration from outside and learning from their mistakes.

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

- That they do not have to do military service is their privilege
- They are not holding positions occasionnally but all over
- Not only can women nowadays most easily have fully separate bank accounts completely under their control, they even when marrying can have Güter-Trennung so that even ownership of the household is separated. And also without Güter-Trennung, a separate account means separate correspondence. The bank-correspondence for my mother was NEVER addressed to my father. And THIS is general rule. For some reasons unknown, your account runs under YOUR name. If it runs under the name of you both, then they at the bank will automatically put the husband into the correspondence as addressee
- the practical day-to-day realities have changed decades ago. It very often is a difference family-internally where many women still accept the rule of their husbands. Immigration has not improved this side of things, as most immigrants came from countries where the position of women is miles worse than in Switzerland.
- women in Switzerland ARE officially "real" people in Switzerland, with equal rights. A discussion points are equal salaries for the same work. The problem is known, but to solve it in full will take ages, just as in other comparable countries.

Regardless of whether it is about private accounts or company accounts, we all have to go through a little round of verification every single time we make a phone-call to any of the banks in question. If they gave the info to your husband without any further verification it simply was gross negligence and most clearly against their own regulations. That your husband possibly has a certain "authoritative" way is no excuse at all. But possibly an explanation

Something that occurs only north of the Alps.

Same with school vacations.

Tom

Indeed.

I recently called to ask for a new Maestro card, as mine had ceased to work, and spent 5 minutes giving numbers, birth date, etc.

Tom

As Marian Keyes put it, "Now and then, when they've had a few drinks, their team has won and they're generally in a benign humour, men will let a woman or two into the higher strata of the workplace. Just for the novelty value, of course. Sort of like getting a pet."
I think the rate of female top managers in Switzerland was something around 3%? So technically the statement is correct, there are some. Just for the novelty value.