Over 100,000 women across Switzerland marched in the streets on Friday chanting the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom) for the annual Women’s Strike, demanding equal pay and highlighting ongoing discriminatory policies. Major cities such as Bern, Lausanne, Geneva and others saw large gatherings organised by trade unions and women’s groups.
The protests, which included slogans like “If women stop, the world stops” and “Equal pay for equal work”, focused on issues such as wage equality, fair pensions and a minimum wage. Many participants said, “Women do not want war,” calling attention to global conflicts and the patriarchal systems perpetuating them.
Over 35,000 women assembled in Reitschule Square in Bern, proceeding to the Swiss Federal Parliament. Demonstrators chanted slogans against patriarchy and fascism, with placards bearing images of Jina Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish woman killed by Iranian police in 2022 after being arrested for wearing her headscarf inappropriately. Kurdish women were notably present, voicing solidarity and the enduring relevance of their struggle.
“Resistance liberates,” declared representatives from the Swiss Kurdish Women’s Movement. “Wars, exploitation and exile have scattered us globally, but we continue to fight,” they stated, urging broader feminist solidarity and action against racism, sexism and injustice.
Speakers at the protests drew attention to the persistence of discriminatory policies despite significant past demonstrations, such as the national women’s strike in 2019. “We will never stop fighting,” they proclaimed, calling for feminist activism to expand in response to growing right-wing and anti-immigrant sentiments in Europe.
