Keystone
What would have been unthinkable a short time ago, the people of Neuchâtel managed to create a week ago: a cantonal parliament that consists mainly of women. The city parliaments of Bern, Lausanne and Friborg have also recently been majority-owned by women.
Reason to be happy? Certainly: after decades in which men made laws on their own, it is long time that women took their place in parliaments. So it can’t hurt if – as in the city of Bern – they make up 69 percent of all elected for once.
However, this should not hide the fact that in 2021 the governments of seven (!) Cantons will still be purely male bodies. Or that the proportion of women in the Council of States is a measly 26 percent. Above all, however, it is myopic to focus solely on gender.
Just a look at the Council of States makes it clear that there is still a long way to go before parliament is finally proportional to the population. Or is Switzerland made up of 63 percent men over 50? In other words: where are the boys? The Swiss with a migration background? The single parents? All those with odd CVs that don’t conform to the F pattern?
Yes, it is progress when women are no longer a vanishing minority in politics. But there is still a long way to go before Parliament really does represent the inhabitants of Switzerland.
In any case, not two-thirds of the people who bustle through Zurich’s main train station every day are older men.