The Federal Commission for Women's Issues (CFQF) has asked the government to change the law and grant parents a minimum of 24 weeks of paid leave to be divided equally between mother and father after their child is born.

"/> The Federal Commission for Women's Issues (CFQF) has asked the government to change the law and grant parents a minimum of 24 weeks of paid leave to be divided equally between mother and father after their child is born.

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WOMEN

Swiss men in line for paternity leave boost

The Federal Commission for Women's Issues (CFQF) has asked the government to change the law and grant parents a minimum of 24 weeks of paid leave to be divided equally between mother and father after their child is born.

Published: 11 November 2011 14:14 CET
Swiss men in line for paternity leave boost
Brandi Jordan

If the proposal is accepted by the Federal Council and the government, it would constitute an important victory for equal rights activists.

In Switzerland, women were only granted the right to paid maternity leave in 2005 and men usually get just two or three days off, always at the discretion of the company since the Swiss legislation does not cover paternity leave.

The CFQF says changes in the law are necessary to create “incentives” for the fathers to be more involved in the care of their children and says companies should be ready to grant this parental leave. 

The National Commission for the coordination of family affairs (COOF) agrees with the minimum 24-week proposal made by the CFQF. The six-month leave could be taken during the first three or four years of the child and it could be divided up in several periods, the commission suggests in order for parents to find individual solutions to their needs. It would be up to parents to decide who stays at home and for how long.

Fathers on parental leave would get the same remuneration as mothers: 80 percent of their salary up to a ceiling of 196 francs per day ($216).

The COOF estimates that if the proposal were passes into law, it would generate an expense of between 1.1 and 1.2 million francs per year. If fathers took more than four weeks off, costs would be higher since male income is generally higher than female earnings.  

Maternity benefit was anchored in the Swiss constitution in 1945. However, the Swiss rejected compulsory paid maternity leave in four votes (1974, 1984, 1987 and 1999). It finally passed at the ballot box in September 2004 with 55.4% of the votes. 

As of July 1, 2005, all women working in Switzerland qualify for a minimum of 14 weeks’ maternity leave. These benefits are far away from the 47 weeks offered in Germany and Sweden, the 44 in Norway or the 34 in Greece. 

A study conducted in 2010 by the Washington DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research ranked Switzerland near the bottom of a ranking measuring both generosity and gender equality of parental leave in 21 rich countries. The United States and Australia tied in last place on the list.

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EQUALITY

Why is the gender pay gap so big in German-speaking countries?

In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, women are losing ground in the fight for pay equity, according to a recent analysis from the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research.

Published: 8 March 2024 15:05 CET
Why is the gender pay gap so big in German-speaking countries?

As DACH countries celebrate International Women’s Day, inequalities in the workplace still remain – especially when it comes to remuneration. 

Despite efforts to close the gender pay gap, new research reveals that men still receive much higher bonuses than women in German-speaking countries.

“The gender pay gap in bonus payments is significantly bigger than in basic salary,” said Ifo researcher Michaela Paffenholz in a report published on Tuesday. “These major differences make the gap in total salary even larger.”

Ifo’s data reveals the pay gap in performance related bonuses extends across the DACH region. In Germany, women receive an average of 6.1 percent less in bonus payments, while in Austria, the gap between men and women is 7.2 percent and in Switzerland, women receive an average of 5.2 percent less in bonuses.

The prevalence of performance-based pay continues to grow across Europe. The number of workers receiving performance bonuses nearly doubled from 2000 to 2015 to include nearly a third of European workers, according to a European Trade Union Institute working paper. 

Reducing the gender pay gap is one of the top priorities of the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025. But the issue of unequal bonus pay has received little focus from policymakers. 

Ifo Institute’s analysis found that bonus payments can increase the gender wage gap. 

In Germany, the pay gap between men and women in basic salary is 2.7 percent, but bonuses increase this gap to 3 percent in total salary. In Austria, the gender gap in basic salary is 2.3 percent, with bonus pay bumping that up to 2.9 percent.

In Switzerland, the gap is 1.2 percent for basic salary; bonus payments increase this to 1.6 percent for total salary.

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Still, the gender pay gap is not limited to hourly earnings and bonus payments: working in lower-paid sectors and fewer working hours also contribute to the gap between men and women’s pay.

According to statistics from the Germany’s Statistical Office, working women in Germany earned 18 percent less than men in 2023. 

This story translates across the DACH region. In Austria women earned 18.4 percent less gross wages per hour than men in 2022. Swiss women face a similar reality. Working women earned 18 percent less than men in 2022, despite “equal pay for work of equal value” being enshrined in the federal constitution since 1981. 

Larger companies are overrepresented in the market data collected by Mercer, so the studies are not representative of all companies in the DACH region. 

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