Breaching the gender divide
Switzerland has consistently been praised for its economic stability, neutrality and robust financial sector. Yet its efforts towards achieving gender parity have historically lagged behind its European neighbours. GC speaks to leading corporate counsel across the country to shine a light on the barriers preventing women from rising to the upper echelons of the legal profession.
Thousands of women took to the streets on 14 June 2019, to protest against Switzerland’s slow progress towards gender equality. The ‘Frauenstreik’, as the protest was called, saw women from major cities including Bern, Geneva and Zurich unite in an effort to campaign against unequal pay and general cultural sexism. The strike comes twenty eight years after the country’s first nationwide walkout, when over half a million women across Switzerland rallied in protest for equal rights.
Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, frustrations around equal pay, accessible childcare facilities and the under-representation of women in management positions, have continued to come to the fore.
