Women's pay in Switzerland lags that of men by 43%

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Women in Switzerland earn more than 40% less than men and draw less pension money, a gender pay gap report the government adopted on Wednesday showed, citing the high proportion of women working part-time.

The government's Gender Overall Earnings Gap (GOEG) study, requested by parliament in 2019, showed Switzerland performed relatively poorly in a European context.

"In 2018, the GOEG for Switzerland was 43.2%. This means that women's earnings are 43.2% lower than men's for all hours worked between the ages of 15 and 64," the national statistics office said in a statement.

In 2020, the gender pension gap was 34.6%, it found. The total annual pension for women was 35 840 Swiss francs (~R635 000) on average, 18 924 francs lower than that for men. This reflected differences in employment participation, the effects of family and life models, and wage gaps between the sexes over time.

The data come before Swiss voters decide in a September 25 referendum whether to reform the state pension system by raising women's retirement age by a year to 65 - the same as that for men - and increasing value-added tax rates to help fund the system.