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Women protest in Lausanne before national strike in Switzerland
Women across Switzerland are preparing for a national strike to protest what they say is the country's unacceptable slowness in terms of equality.
Friday's protest comes 28 years after similar actions saw half a million women take to the streets in 1991.
Swiss women have long campaigned to accelerate the pace of gender equality.
They joined millions of other women in Europe after the end of the First World War, in 1918, to demand the right to vote – but did not get it until 1971.
At the time of the 1991 strike, there were no women in the Swiss government and there was no legal maternity leave.
Appenzell, the last Swiss canton to have refused the right to vote to women, had just received orders to change its policy on the part of the Swiss Supreme Court.
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Gosteli Foundation
Even in the 1920s, women complained of the snail rhythm with which Switzerland was attacking equal rights at work
Where does Switzerland go?
Some things have changed: since then, there have been eight women ministers and the right to maternity leave is now enshrined in law.
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However, in Switzerland women earn on average 20% less than men, they are underrepresented in management positions and childcare services are not only expensive but scarce.
Last month, a study by the International Labor Organization ranked Switzerland at the bottom of the list of pay rates for men and women in positions of responsibility.
Journalist Beatrice Born, six months pregnant with her first child when she became a strike in 1991, will do so again on Friday.
BBC
We felt incredibly powerful that day. Because a lot of women participated. I thought that after that, nothing could get in the way
When she returned to work after the birth of her daughter in 1991, she was shocked. Apparently, nobody expected her to come back, and certainly not full time. "The resistance was huge," she says.
Paola Ferro, one of the organizers of the 1991 strike, will return to the streets on Friday as well.
BBC
My reasons are the same as in 1991 –
gender justice
She agrees that some progress has been made over the last 28 years, but highlights the gap in salary and pension. Swiss women's pensions are 37% lower than men's, mainly because women are absent from work to raise their children.
BBC
I participate for all women who are not capable or perhaps not brave enough to do what they want in life
Why #frauenstreik is fashionable
A new strike had been suggested for the first time last year in response to Parliament's decision to introduce more control over equal pay.
The government's decision only concerned companies with more than 100 employees, a measure that women union leaders deemed almost meaningless.
Since then, women across the country have mobilized, using social media to take advantage of the power of the hashtag.
#Frauenstreik had a tendency for days.
Social media has emerged in recent years as one of the most powerful techniques for quickly raising awareness of a particular problem and mobilizing people for demonstrations and demonstrations.
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Nadine, a Swiss law student who was not born when the first strike was held in her country, will be among the participants.
"I think it's a good thing," says the student, originally from the traditionally conservative canton of Glarus.
"People will be aware of the many disadvantages that women still face: we do not get equal pay, we always give men priority for certain jobs," she adds.
BBC
Girls are less likely to go to university or higher education because they are the ones who will have children
Aida, a 25-year-old yoga teacher, will also be striking.
"I think it's a good opportunity to stand together and show that we're not happy with the current situation," she says.
For her, it's also a way to pay tribute to previous struggles. "I want to pay tribute to all the incredible and strong women who fought for us before."
BBC
It's a lot easier for us to go down the street and demand things than was the case for women 100 years ago
Not all Swiss are fully convinced.
"I do not know what to think of the strike," says one of them. "Some of these feminists can really be in your face," said another at the BBC.
But the fact that every Swiss town and village, from an urban agglomeration to alpine agriculture, organizes an activity planned for the day shows a general impatience with the slowness of equality.
What will the bosses do?
Thousands of women have already informed their leaders that they would not work.
Others will leave at 3:30 pm, reducing their workday by 20% to symbolize the 20% pay gap. But Switzerland does not have a tradition of major industrial shutdown and it is unlikely that unexpected disruptions will occur.
Some employers said the strike was illegal, but many large companies seem to be taking a pragmatic approach. The distribution giant, Migros, said that he would prefer that employees not only use tools, but also suggested that no disciplinary action would be taken if they did it.
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The Swiss railways asked their employees to say well in advance if they planned to go on strike and said they would offer commemorative t-shirts to mark the day.
Many men will actively support the strike, although they have been told to sit back, take care of the children and prepare food for the strikers.
"If we do not support ourselves now, who will do it in the future?" asks Clemens, 24 years old.
BBC
I am a man, but above all I am a human being and I wish for equal rights in the real world for all human beings.
What will it serve?
The real test will however not be relaxed employers or favorable men on Friday, but the question of whether the inequality against which Swiss women have been campaigning for so long will be examined.
Born, who joined an all-male newsroom in 1986, is rather optimistic. "We have achieved good things since 1991," she says. "We have maternity leave now."
"And something else: In 1991, the government and parliament were completely dominated by men, and today, women in politics are quite normal here, and this phrase" the first Swiss woman to ever have .. "We heard it a lot, now we are barely doing it."
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