Coming from the first nation in the world to give women the right to vote I find the suffrage movement in Switzerland particularly ’intriguing’, to put it diplomatically.
New Zealand and Switzerland are similar in many aspects - both countries are considered reasonably well developed and advanced in most social, economic and political spheres; both are comparatively neutral in world affairs; and are definitively (sometimes defiantly) independent, which may be seen as somewhat remarkable for the small size and population of both nations.
But when looking at the history of women’s voting rights, the two countries were as far removed politically as they are geographically. And that’s pretty far - just ask anyone who’s done the killer 22-hour trip.
Being half a world away physically is surely no reason why NZ could click on in 1893 that women should be given the same voting rights as men, whereas Switzerland only began allowing ladies to go to the polls a mere 37 years ago. This sophisticated, cosmopolitan country in the middle of Western Europe held tight to its conservative political traditions while third world countries the world over strode ahead in this aspect of basic human rights and gender equality.
I shall not, however, take advantage of this forum to critisize, or to go into feminist rant-mode (any more so than I already have, and as salivatingly tempting as it may be), but rather, to try to understand this unique historical take of the Swiss on equal rights.
To be fair, I should mention at this point that Switzerland is governed through direct democracy, which naturally means new political processes can take a little longer to implement, but seriously. It took more than eight decades from the first known petition held by women in Zurich for the right to vote (who may as well have stayed home and got the laundry done for all the good it did them – or was that the point/ Sorry, slipping back into rant-mode) until the day it actually happened in 1971.
Just what went on between times?
It was in 1912 that the Social Democratic Party brought the issue to parliament for the first time, but the initiative was duly and squarely blocked by basically everyone else in the house. Seven years later government was told by parliament to get the ball rolling on the introduction of women’s right to vote. But like a naughty child told to clean his room, government simply avoided this distasteful little task for as long as possible - and got away with it for decades!
When the proposal did go to ’the people’ (half of them, of course) at cantonal levels, ’the people’ said no. But it was not just the men who were determined to keep their sheilas in the kitchen – many conservative women’s groups also expressed protest at the idea that they should be allowed to vote.
It was in 1957 that it was deemed women could be of more use than just cooking the rosti, as the Cold War rolled around. The government decided the fairer sex should serve as air raid wardens. But the implementation of such duties without new rights for women had the effect of a fox in a hen house for political women’s organisations – a lot of upset females, and not shy about letting it be known. To quieten things down, and in the interests of the nation’s security the government finally moved the introduction of women’s right to vote a few places up its ’to-do’ list. But this year all that actually happened was that Basel allowed its women to vote at a local level.
Two years later there was an unsuccessful national referendum. Sixty-seven percent said no to women voting and 31% said yes, with some central and Eastern cantons counting an even more overwhelming no-vote. In Appenzell Innerrhoden it was 95%. Only French-speaking cantons, Vaud, Neuchatel and Geneva said yes.
The same year the Federation of Swiss Women against Women’s Right to Vote was founded. (No comment).
But despite such attitudes, in the next decade things finally started to shift, with Basel dragging a reluctant German-speaking Switzerland, where the commonly accepted role of women had been ’Kinder, Kirche und Kuche’ (children, church and kitchen) into the new world. Tecino followed a few years later.
However once again it was national security issues that forced the government to take the big step toward equal rights. Switzerland wanted to cosy up to its neighbours to avoid being left out in the cold (of the Cold War). But it found itself facing loud protest nationally as it sought an exemption on the issue of equal voting rights in its bid to be allowed to sign the European Convention on Human Rights and join the European Council.
So, 1968 saw a referendum organised once again, and in 1971 66% of Swiss men said yes to giving women the vote. Eleven women (5.5%) were even elected as members of parliament.
Well done, Switzerland.
Phew. Who wants to take bets on how long it takes before we see the first woman actually heading the country?
Anna Tuson - expatica 2008
