Gender before performance, state coercion before voluntary work – the Federal Councilor is maneuvering her department into ideological sidelines and putting sports associations and clubs under pressure.
Viola Amherd used to want to play football too, as a member of the Federal Council she shines with ideological dribbles.
When Viola Amherd was a little girl, she wanted to play soccer but wasn’t allowed to. Because the local Tschutt clubs were only open to boys back then. Amherd has chosen tennis. A sport in which mixed-gender doubles are possible, but the athletes are usually on their own.
Today Viola Amherd is Minister of Sport. And as such, she wants to adapt the Sports Promotion Ordinance in such a way that incidents like those at the national sports center in Magglingen, where prospective gymnasts were abused, are not repeated. Amherd’s Federal Office for Sport, the Baspo, has included a quota in the regulation in addition to various ethical principles. The goal: a “balanced gender representation” in all sports organizations in the country.
According to this, clubs and associations must fill at least 40 percent of their management bodies with women and men if they want to continue to receive funds from the federal government. The ordinance will come into effect next year. The consultation on this has now been completed. Meanwhile, the answers from the associations, the cantons and the parties are devastating. The sports minister is alone – like in tennis.
Even more embarrassing for Amherd is the puzzled statement by the associations that “their” federal councilor obviously has no idea how things are going around the training grounds, gymnasiums and club houses in this country. There are sports that are “strongly gendered”, it says in the answers. Majorettes and synchronized swimmers tend to be supervised by women, while men are in the majority in the Swiss wrestlers’ association.
And anyway: Such a rigid regulation is counterproductive because the recruitment of management personnel is already difficult without a quota, it is said. According to the American Football Association, such guidelines would endanger their existence “without taking into account the realities that volunteer sports clubs are confronted with”. The feedback from the consultation is so unanimous that Amherd would have to stamp the quota again immediately. But the Valais woman doesn’t even think about it.
When asked about the criticism of the sports associations, she recently said in the “Sonntags-Blick” that she would then “speak well” to the officials. The footballer, once rejected, seems to enjoy her current position of power – as if she wanted to get even with the bad guys from back then. Even the Swiss Gymnastics Federation, under the new president and Amherd’s party friend Béatrice Wertli, is against the quota. Even the gender parity co-presidium of SP Switzerland does not consider it feasible. Only the women’s network Sportif applauds Amherd’s plans. In addition to Amherd and former Federal Councilor Rutz Metzler-Arnold, the association’s matrons’ committee also includes Sandra Felix, the deputy director of the Baspo.
The consultation makes it clear how much Amherd has maneuvered her department into the ideological offside. The sports minister weakens club life by putting gender before performance and state coercion before voluntary work. The quota harms mass sport and thus thousands of children and young people. The reactions of sports organizations and clubs show: Viola Amherd no longer understands Switzerland.