gisw13_chapters

switzerlandWomen’s rights, gender and ICTsComunica-chWolf Ludwig and Therese Wüthrichwww.comunica-ch.netIntroductionA casual observer of the country would assume thatSwitzerland figures well among its neighbouringcountries in terms of women’s rights and gender issues.Particular historical facts and shortcomingsfound in Switzerland are not as evident in the surroundingEuropean countries. But a key event forwomen’s rights is rather recent but meaningful:women’s suffrage in Switzerland was introduced atthe federal level for the first time after 7 February1971, with the voting resulting in the exact inverse ofthat reported in February 1959 (when suffrage wasrejected 2 to 1). 1 The principal reason for the longdelay of the Swiss in granting women’s suffrage relativeto other European countries is the importance ofdirect democracy in the political system. The introductionof federal and cantonal universal suffragenecessitated the vote of the majority of the electors– men in this case – for a referendum. Moreover, anynew federal constitutional reform must be approvedby the majority of the cantons. Some comparisonsfor the granting of universal suffrage: Finland 1906,Germany and Austria 1918, France 1944, Italy 1946. 2Policy and political backgroundAs the political system in Switzerland is based onstrong federalism, the Swiss cantons have muchfreedom of discretion. It was necessary to wait forthe 1960s for eight cantons to introduce women’ssuffrage at the canton level. Thirty more yearswere necessary for this right to be generalised forall the cantons. In a judgment on November 1990the Swiss federal court declared the exclusive malesuffrage as had been practiced in the half canton ofAppenzell Innerrhoden unconstitutional; the principleof equality between men and women as was1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Switzerland#Women.27s_Suffrage_at_the_Cantonal_Level_-_1960s and de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenwahlrecht#Europ.C3.A4isches_Nord-S.C3.BCd-Gef.C3.A4lle and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage2 www.meinhard.privat.t-online.de/frauen/frauenwahlr_weltweit.htmlguaranteed by the federal constitution ordered, ineffect, an interpretation of the Appenzell constitutionso that women’s suffrage should be possible.The comparatively late granting of women’s suffrageis only one important facet out of many.It was in 1978 when women were granted thesame rights when it came to parental care for theirchildren. In 1981 the principle of equal treatmentwas introduced into the country’s constitution,including the legislative duty to assure legal andpractical equality in all laws and spheres of life.Furthermore, and by law, women received theconstitutional right of equal pay for equal work.In 1988 the marital law which designated men as“sovereign of the family” and women as in charge ofhousekeeping was reformed, thus granting womenthe right to gainful employment without the explicitapproval of their husbands. Full citizen’s rights werefinally granted in 1990. But it was not until 1996 thatthe Gender Equity Act came into force, removing allstructural discrimination for employment. 3Women in Swiss policyThe number of women in the Swiss National Council(lower house) of the Federal Assembly of Switzerlandwent from 10 in 1971 to 50 in 2003, and from 1to 11 in the 46-member Swiss Council of States (upperhouse) in the same period. In 2008 there were59 women out of 200 members in total (29.5%) inthe National Council. 4 The first female member ofthe seven-member Swiss Federal Council was electedin 1984, serving until 1989, the second femalemember from 1993 to 1999, and the first presidentof the Swiss Confederation in 1999. Two womenwere elected to the Swiss Federal Council from 1999to 2003. As of January 2008 the Federal Council hadthree female members. Since September 2010, theFederal Council changed to a female majority offour, which signifies a milestone in the political historyof the country. 53 www.humanrights.ch/de/Themendossiers/Gleichstellung/Frauenrechte-Schweiz/index.html4 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Switzerland#Women.27s_Suffrage_at_the_Cantonal_Level_-_1960s and de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenwahlrecht#Europ.C3.A4isches_Nord-S.C3.BCd-Gef.C3.A4lle and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage5 Ibid.214 / Global Information Society Watch