20 Minutes. “This is a tragic but fortunately rare case in Switzerland” Daniel Koch, of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) told the Tages-Anzeiger this morning, regarding the death of a young man in January. This is the first measles death in Switzerland since 2009 when a 12 year old girl died in Geneva. The FOPH […]
Girl of 6 dies in a ski accident in Switzerland
20 Minutes. On Sunday, at the resort Les Mosses, a 6 year old girl collided with an adolescent of 16. According to Vaud Police, the two young skiers crashed into each other on a piste at Les Parchets. The accident, which happened at 9:40 am, left the girl seriously injured. A helicopter flew the girl […]
Vaud discusses extending winter school holiday to 2 weeks
Le Matin. In Switzerland, this ski season has been disappointing, particularly if you have school aged children. During the Vaud school holiday this season, the fourth week of February, there was limited snow. Even at high resorts like Verbier, snow conditions were fairly average across the week. The week before there was good snow. But then […]
Swiss women third latest to have first child
Le Matin. In 2015, the average age Swiss mothers had their first child was unchanged from 2014, according to recent Eurostat data. At a european level, only Italians and Spaniards left motherhood later than Swiss. In 2015, the average age of Swiss first-time mums was 30.6 years, slightly younger than Spanish first-time mothers (30.7). In Italy […]
Unauthorised Bible distribution causes outrage in Geneva
Tribune de Genève. According to the newspaper, parents of children at the Collège de Drize, in Carouge, Geneva, were outraged when their children, aged between 12 and 15, arrived home last week with copies of the New Testament. It turns out the Bibles were distributed by Gideons International, an American evangelical organisation, without authorisation. The organisation has […]
World-renowned dinosaurs move into Geneva’s Natural History Museum
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, […]
