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Actions across the country – Cities in purple: That’s how the day of the Swiss women’s strike was – News

15 June 2023

Basel

Around 15 events and rallies were planned for the women’s strike in Basel. The Basel strike day opened in the morning with a care demo including prams, wheelchairs and walkers on Theaterplatz.

Legend:

Care demo on the Theaterplatz in Basel.

KEYSTONE/Georgios Kefalas

According to the organizing committee, one of the demands was a redistribution of “time, power and money so that everyone would have access to a good life”. The highlight was a demonstration on the Theaterplatz. According to the police, around 9,000 people were present.

According to several media reports, Basel Justice and Security Director Stephanie Eymann (LDP) had invited the organizers of the feminist strike to a meeting in advance in order to strengthen mutual trust. This was after, among other things, the demo on May 1st got out of hand and the police were sharply criticized for their efforts.

Zurich

In Zurich, cleaners who clean luxury hotels went from hotel to hotel in the morning and afternoon, protesting against the low wages and the pressure and stress they have to endure at work. This was announced by the union Unia.

Lots of people, lots of pink.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators – and some demonstrators – called for equality for all in the early evening. The parade route had to be changed at short notice because the Limmatquai had to be closed due to a fire.

Around 1 p.m., demonstrators blocked Zurich’s Paradeplatz. The police did not tolerate the occupation and ended it. The use of tear gas can be seen on videos of participants. The demonstrators then marched through District 4.

The parade route had to be changed at short notice in the early evening because the Limmatquai had to be closed due to a fire. It is still unclear why there was a fire in the attic near the town hall. According to information from protection and rescue, three people were recovered and medically examined. But they were not injured, according to local protection and rescue.

In contrast to the women’s strike in 2019, the specific concerns of the various groups differed widely. While some called for the abolition of patriarchy and capitalism, others called for feminist investing. “Girls just want to have funds” was written on a sign, based on the song “Girls just want to have fun” by Cyndi Lauper.

Other groups called for minimum wages, the end of patriarchy, the right to abortion for everyone, parental leave, equal rights for nonbinary and transgender people, the end of the burqa for women in Afghanistan or less “mental load”.

Bern

Around a thousand people took part in a feminist community on the Bundesplatz at noon.

Over 1000 women, children and sympathizers take part in the feminist Landsgemeinde.

The collective “Les Créatives” had already carried out feminist regional communities in Geneva and Appenzell in 2021. Women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, agender and queer people with and without a Swiss passport were also invited to take part in the campaign in Bern.

We swear that we will fight for equality for all people in this country until it is achieved.

The participants first swore the “feminist oath” and stretched their left fists in the air. “We swear that we will fight for equality for all people in this country until it is achieved,” said the oath phrase, among other things.

Parliamentarians march on the Bundesplatz.

A number of demands were then discussed and passed. For example, it was demanded that Switzerland should spend CHF 109 billion a year on childcare in the future – the same amount as it spoke for the rescue of Credit Suisse.

By the evening, the crowd on the Schützenmatte near the train station had swelled to well over 10,000 people. The organizers even spoke of around 50,000 demonstrators.

The women’s strike was also an issue in the city parliaments of Zurich and Bern. In both chambers, parts of the council left called for the sessions to be broken off. In Zurich, the matter prevailed by 62 votes to 55 with six abstentions.

In Berne, Christa Ammann (AL) requested that the council meeting end at 3:24 p.m. This point in time represents the moment from which women would no longer be paid compared to men for the same work. The Great Council rejected the regulatory motion by 92 to 50 votes.

Lucerne

Women also gathered in the Vögeligärtli in Lucerne in the afternoon. The event was organized by the Feminist Strike Collective, trade unions and left-wing parties.

Young people hold signs.

The demonstration through the old town in Lucerne grew to several thousand women.

western switzerland

In Lausanne, almost 20,000 people marched through the city – mostly younger women. 8,500 people took part in the Geneva procession. In Sitten, women with violet signs renamed streets because there are only two streets in Valais with women’s names – those of two saints.

Thousands of demonstrators are pulling over a bridge, with a lake and mountain panorama in the background.

300 watch workers gathered in Le Sentier VD. They met at the place where the idea for the 1991 women’s strike originated.

At the opening of the International Labor Organization (ILO) summit in Geneva, on the occasion of the women’s strike taking place on the same day, Federal President Alain Berset denounced the disadvantages faced by women in the world of work.

“Women far too often receive less wages and pensions than men,” said the head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (EDI). “They do unpaid work more often” and are victims of discrimination and harassment.

The women’s strike shows “how outrage turns into political action”. The fighting had led to progress, said the Federal President. Opening the ILO World Summit, Berset welcomed the organisation’s recent Convention against Sexual Violence at Work.