Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern!

Gender bells are ringing but not everyone is ready to let go of tradition in the name of gender equality. This is especially the case when that tradition was made famous in a Swiss children’s book. Can you guess which one? Read today’s briefing to find out. But first the news.

Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

In the News: good wine, bad business, and an architecture prize.

• It was a bumper year for Swiss wine. Vineyards produced 99 million litres of wine last year thanks to high temperatures and low rainfall boosting the sugar content of grapes. This represents a 63% increase in wine production from 2021 – a year in which adverse weather conditions produced the worst harvest since 1957.
• The Solway Investment Group, based in Zug, suspended activities of two subsidiaries in Guatemala owing to US sanctions targeting Russian involvement in the country’s nickel sector. The company denies the allegations and has launched an independent probe. Solway’s mining operations in Guatemala made headlines for unrelated reasons when a media investigation revealed the company tried to conceal pollution.
• The architect who designed the headquarters building of world football’s governing body FIFA has been honoured in Switzerland for her life’s work. The 79-year-old Tilla Thues was awarded the Bündner Kulturpreis 2023, a culture prize for a region in southeastern Switzerland.

© Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

A traditional tale gets a gender makeover. Would Flurina be proud?  

Switzerland’s second most famous children’s book “Schellen-Ursli” (the first is Heidi) made the spring custom “Chalandamarz” world-famous. But when it was published in 1945, few readers were likely bothered by the fact that Ursli’s sister Flurina wasn’t allowed to partake in the Engadine tradition, in which village boys drive away the winter by ringing giant bells.  

What would Flurina do today though? As of yesterday, in the village of Zuoz, Flurina would have been able to join the procession of children clad in the traditional blue robe and red cap. This is only after a year-long dispute over a proposal to open up the custom to girls.

The revolution was met with plenty of resistance, causing a deep rift in the village, writes my colleague Marc Leutenegger and Céline Stegmüller who were in Zuoz yesterday to cover the big event. This is apparent in the interviews with villagers in their video reportage. While some saw yesterday’s parade as a milestone for gender equality, others questioned whether the village got caught up in the woke gender politics brought from the city dwellers.

Andrea Könz, who is the widow of the son of the Schellen-Ursli author, said that her main criticism of the modernisation is that the “symbolism behind the custom is no longer understood”.

Chalandamarz is a fertility cycle, the big bells were a phallic symbol. “So does it make sense to put them on the girls?”

Zuoz found a compromise in the end. The girls joined the parade dressed just like the boys. But one thing was missing – the bells.

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Is subsidised childcare the route to gender equality?

And now from gender politics in a mountain village to the parliament in Bern. Yesterday one house of parliament voted in favor of more subsidies for child care but the debateExternal link is far from over, especially when it comes to who and how the government will pay for this, writes the Tages-Anzeiger.

But what’s been consuming a lot of media space lately is whether more affordable childcare options will actually encourage mothers to work more and advance in their careers. Or said another way, whether the high cost of childcare is actually holding women backExternal link. This has been one of the main arguments of left-wing politicians saying this would reverse the “maternity penalty”.

Studies aren’t so sure that the theory holds up though, writes Swiss public television, RTS. One study led by a University of Zurich economist estimates that an increase in subsidies for daycares would have no influence on mothers’ professional activity. But again, the debate on this is far from over. The study was based in Austria after all.

In Switzerland, it’s common for people to work some 60-70% regardless of whether they have young kids. Salary levels, life circumstances, career ambitions, and yes, traditional norms, all play a role. But the study author warns that this isn’t to say that more affordable childcare isn’t a good idea but “we can’t force mothers to work more in return for cheaper daycare spots”.