Women's strike scale from Blick to Zürcher Bote

The View It vividly illustrates what needs to change to make a women’s strike unnecessary. The large, familiar letters on the front cover are in purple; this is followed by two more double-page spreads devoted almost exclusively to women’s issues. And even the opening feature of the otherwise male-dominated sports section is, for once, about a woman: FCZ’s Heliane Canepa.

In doing so, the View to give a prominent voice to women who, as quiet workers at the bottom of the pay scale, usually have no voice: The feature article on the back cover of the first issue comes from Helena D., a packaging worker.

Unsurprisingly, such a strong focus on women's issues is evident only in the union newspaper Work. The front page, in pink and purple, celebrates gender equality by using the gender star in the word «Women’s* Strike» to highlight the reasons why women should take to the streets on Friday—and also promises an 18-page special edition on the strike. That, however, isn’t entirely accurate. The newspaper is 18 pages long in total, with 15 pages dedicated to the women’s strike.

View, Work and also the weekly newspaper WOZ In any case, they are helping the women’s strike receive the most attention in Friday’s print media—and thus represent one end of the women’s strike spectrum. The opposite end is occupied by The Zurich Herald and the tabloid 20 minutes.

SVP: Equal Rights for Men

The weekly newspaper of the Zurich cantonal SVP manages to redefine equality: men—and, in the context of school education, boys—need equality, according to the general tone of the so-called Weekly Newspaper for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses. Furthermore, the editorial states that wage inequality is «not really an argument at all» for the women’s strike, because a wage gap cannot be proven.

Three women are advocating for these viewpoints: two SVP cantonal council members and one SVP National Council member, the latter under the headline «Gender Equality Taken to the Absurd.» Otherwise, only men are given a voice in the eight-page publication.

Also 20 minutes pushes the women’s strike and its cause into a shadowy corner. On the front page, the paper does announce a pro-and-con debate on the topic; Juso leader Tamara Funiciello and Camille Lothe, president of the Young SVP of the Canton of Zurich, cross swords—but only on page six, which is on the left-hand side. The newspaper also refrains from introducing the two women and their roles at all.

Botin instead of Messenger

The other Swiss newspapers fall somewhere between these two extremes. With its usual intellectual rigor and sharp wit, the New Zurich Newspaper The paper gets right to work. Readers have to look very closely to notice that the Friday edition is being published on a special day. The topic of the women’s strike is not highlighted in any way, either through color or layout. The paper pulls off a subtle punchline by announcing «The Heroic Comeback of the Machos» on the opening page of the arts section.

At least the Tamedia newspapers and the publications of the CH-Media Group give women the most prominent voice in their opinion columns and feature these pieces prominently on the front page. This is accompanied by the occasional investigative piece, such as the one on women in journalism at Tamedia.

On the women's strike scale between View and Zurich Messenger At the bottom of the list are the Basel Newspaper, the Valais Messenger, the Freiburg News or the one from Winterthur Country Messenger.

Newspapers such as The Rhine Valley or The Messenger of Ancient Switzerland "Let It Sink In." That's the title of Friday's local section of the newspaper for the St. Gallen Rhine Valley. The Woman from the Rhine Valley. And in Central Switzerland, the Boten was temporarily renamed the Botin of Primitive Switzerland. (SDA)