From 24 September 2016 until 12 March 2017, Geneva’s natural history museum will echo with roars from the past. Dinosaurs from around the world will be exhibited over 1,000 m2 of floor space. Several world-renowned fossils have been brought together for the first time. Some come from a remarkable collection from Wyoming in the US, unearthed by a […]
Too many Swiss mothers are fired after returning to work
Le Matin. According to statistics from the Conférence suisse des offices de conciliation, 11 cases of dismissal due to maternity were reported in 2013. In addition, there were 6 reported cases of women losing their jobs because they fell pregnant during their job’s trial period. In Switzerland, dismissal is deemed void if it is done during pregnancy or […]
Geneva’s Left wants 1% of salaries to pay for dentistry
20 Minutes. Geneva’s Ensemble à gauche and Socialist parties want to see compulsory dental care and presented a proposal to Geneva’s parliament in mid-February. On Monday Geneva’s labour party (Parti du travail) launched a cantonal initiative for the same thing. The plan would be funded by compulsory salary deductions of 1%. Half of this would be categorised as […]
Gender related work inequality persists in Switzerland
24 Heures. In the Swiss canton of Vaud more and more mothers work. The traditional model, where dad worked and mum looked after the home and the kids, now feels like it’s from another time. In Vaud, 77% of mothers with young children worked in 2014. This figure hides something though: only a minority were the […]
Why Switzerland ranks near the bottom for working women
Earlier this year the Economist ranked OECD countries on workplace gender equality. Switzerland ranked near the bottom scoring last on one measure and third last on another, pegging it as the forth worst place for women to work. Only Turkey, Japan and South Korea are considered worse. The index covers 28 of the 34 OECD countries – Iceland, Mexico, […]
Big fines for those who skip school
Tribune de Genève. Travelling outside the school holidays might be a good way to beat the crowds and save money however the DIP, Geneva’s department of education (Département de l’instruction publique) thinks it’s a poor way to ensure children get a proper education. Pierre-Antoine Preti, head of DIP’s communications told the Tribune de Genève that […]
Swiss make their views on paternity leave clear
24 Heures. Being a working mum or dad is not always easy in Switzerland. Long school lunch breaks with no school supervision mean parents need to collect children from school in the middle of the day or find lunch time care which is often over subscribed. Finding help to look after babies can also be […]
Most UK graduates fail to get a job doing what they studied. Most Swiss do.
A recent report by the UK based Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) calculates that nearly 59% of UK graduates end up with non-graduate jobs, such as working in a cafe or bar. The report looks at European countries and only Greece and Estonia perform worse on this measure. In Switzerland less than 10% […]
Kids, holidays, sickness and Internet cures
Things unavoidable: death, taxes … and the children coming down with some horrible illness, just before we go away on holiday. We’ve had so many holidays blighted by Child Plague: The December of the Eyes: New Year’s Eve 2009, Plettenberg Bay. A gorgeous day. We load the children into our little rental car and make […]
Why poetry beats parenting books
These days I find I’m getting a lot of useful parenting advice from poems like The Prophet and Desiderata; poems I grew up seeing badly framed and hanging in everybody’s guest bathroom. Who knew that one day I’d honestly find them more helpful than most parenting books? And why? Well, take the example of the […]
