The Swiss will be going to the polls this weekend to vote on four separate issues. It was only 45 years ago this month that men voted in favour of women’s suffrage. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
Despite Switzerland’s democratic tradition, the country was one of the last in Europe to give women the right to vote.
In 1868, a group women from canton Zurich first petitioned for women’s suffrage. The initiative was rejected in many cantons.
To bring about constitutional changes the unique Swiss system of direct democracy requires a national referendum. Thus Swiss women had to wait for men to decide to grant them the right to vote.
The first federal vote on the issue was in 1959 and was rejected by 67% of voters. Women had to wait until February 7, 1971, when suffrage was finally granted at the federal level.
The first cantons to allow women to cast their vote were Vaud and Neuchâtel in 1959. Laggard Appenzell Inner-Rhodes was the last canton to give in in 1990.
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Appenzell Inner Rhoden women celebrate 25 years of the vote
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The men of Appenzell Inner Rhoden had denied their mothers, sisters and daughters the vote three times, in 1973, 1982 and April 1990. But in 1990 the women’s patience finally snapped. They brought a legal action before the Federal Court in Lausanne saying the situation was unconstitutional. On November 27, 1990, the court agreed, overruling…
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It’s the first joint project by Swiss women’s umbrella organisations that targets the federal elections and calls on voters to choose more female candidates. “The autumn elections must lead to a clear rise in the number of women in parliament,” said campaigners. Flyers with a smiling man giving the campaign the thumbs up are being…
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Their catering skills helped them launch a canteen empire, but these pioneering Swiss women found it wasn’t enough to earn them the right to vote.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.