Swiss women politicians, who have been unsatisfied with their representation in the federal parliament, are trying all means to make their voice heard ahead of elections next Sunday, the Swissinfo website reported on Monday.
Female candidates in the central canton of Schwyz have even put up campaign posters showing them sporting bright red mustaches to draw public attention to their complaints, according to the report.
Men currently hold all six parliamentary seats for the canton, and the women have chosen irony in their battle to change this situation in the federal parliamentary elections to be held on Oct.21.
The low representation of women in the parliament is by no means confined to Schwyz, according to Swissinfo.
Although more and more women are standing for election to the Swiss parliament, they remain under-represented, with only about a quarter of the total 200 seats in the House of Representatives and46 seats in the Senate.
Even worse from their point of view, statistics indicate that women are less likely to win a seat than men, especially in the House of Representatives.
Nevertheless, the issue of women's representation has been largely ignored in the run-up to the current elections.
"This is my third campaign, and it's the one where there has been the least focus on the issue of women," Swissinfo quoted Geraldine Savary, a female parliamentarian standing for re-election, as saying.
"There needs to be debate on the subject before the elections if we want to see any change. Otherwise the 'woman reflex' is minimal or non-existent," said Karin Schwiter, a researcher in gender studies.
Swiss women did not get the vote at federal level until 1971. Switzerland was the last country in Europe apart from Liechtenstein to grant them this right.
Source:Xinhua
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