Thousands join Feminist Strike across Swiss cities

Swiss cities were filled with the chants of protesters on Wednesday as tens of thousands of people took to the street to join the annual protests against gender discrimination and inequality.

Organizers were hoping to see the number of attendees reach the half a million men, women and non-binary people who were mobilized in 2019, according to the Swiss broadcaster SRF.

Although Switzerland is known for its high quality of life, it has fallen behind other advanced economies in issues of equal pay for women and workplace equality.

What were protesters calling for?

The protesters called for an end to lower wages for women, violence and discrimination against women and LGBTQ people and a greater recognition of their unpaid labor outside of the workplace.

"The salary inequality continues, violence continues and...there are not at all enough measures to match the scale of what is happening," women's rights activist Francoise Nyffeler said to Reuters.

The gender pay gap in Switzerland has become worse since the year 2000, with women now earning around a fifth less than men on average.

One particular demand was for the government to put the same amount of money for supporting childcare aside as it did to rescue the Credit Suisse Bank.

Annual commemoration

At 3:24 p.m. — the time when women would start working for free in comparison to men — protesters in Geneva began shouting for around a minute.

 "I was hoping that this voice, this scream, could be heard far enough for people to stop and know what is going on," Geneva resident Vjollca Ahmeti told Reuters.

June 14 marks the anniversary of the codification of gender equality into the Swiss constitution in 1981, with the first strike taking place in 1991.

The protest action has previously gone under the name Women's Strike, but this was changed to Feminist Strike this year, causing conservative political parties to withdraw their support.

ab/jcg (Reuters, dpa)