Women across Switzerland have begun a day of demonstrations against what they say is the country’s unacceptably slow pace to equality.
Friday’s protest comes 28 years after similar action saw half a million women take to the streets in 1991.
Swiss women have long campaigned to accelerate the pace of gender equality.
They joined millions of other women in Europe after World War One ended in 1918 in demanding the right to vote – but did not get it until 1971.
Journalist Beatrice Born, who was six months pregnant with her first child when she joined the strike back in 1991, will be striking again on Friday.
A new strike was first suggested last year in response to parliament’s decision to introduce more scrutiny on equal pay.
The government’s move only related to companies with more than 100 employees, a measure that women trade union leaders dismissed as virtually meaningless.
Since then, women across the country have been mobilising, using social media to take advantage of the power of the hashtag.
#Frauenstreik – women’s strike in German – has been trending for days, along with #GrèvedesFemmes in French.
Events were staged in many of the main cities on Friday, including Bern, Sion and Lausanne, where women filled the station concourse to sing a feminist hymn.
Hymne féministe à la gare de Lausanne #14Juin2019 #Grevedesfemmes2019 #24hgrevedesfemmes #24heures pic.twitter.com/pjE42idIaO
— Joelle Fabre (@JoelleFabre1) June 14, 2019
