Equal rights for women in business are high on the agenda. However, there are still large differences between men and women, particularly with regard to the employment rate, equal pay, estimated income from work and the holding of management positions and political offices. Discussions mainly focus on disadvantages for women. Advantages that women can derive from the current situation, however, are less frequently taken into account. The opportunities have the potential to compensate for some disadvantages.
It cannot be denied that women are still underrepresented, especially in higher management positions – and in politics -, that they work part-time more often, have lower incomes than men and are less secure in old age. This is also confirmed by the statistic on gender equality of the Federal Statistical Office. It states that there is evidence of stagnation or even a regression in the trend towards gender equality in terms of equal pay and political offices. At retirement age, lower wages and the high proportion of part-time work for women have a negative impact. However, it is not enough to demand that women should work more full-time, especially since, according to the Federal Statistical Office, young women today have an equally good or higher level of education than young men.
Promising top sharing
Because the connections are more complex. The figures also show that. Although 59 percent of employed women work part-time and only 17.6 percent of employed men, part-time work has increased for both sexes. This is evidence that both women and men do not necessarily want to work full-time. This is confirmed by the study conducted by Jobcloud in cooperation with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW. According to the study, the additional demand for part-time jobs is now increasingly coming from men. Women, in turn, can benefit from this – for example in the context of top sharing. Top sharing refers to job sharing in relation to management positions. Female bosses who share management positions are still rare, but they do exist.
Higher success rate for applications
Especially in industries such as IT, women have opportunities for well-paid, challenging jobs. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the gender-specific choice of profession and field of study has become softer. Today, women are more likely to choose subjects in which men were or still are in the majority, such as natural sciences, mathematics and statistics as well as engineering, manufacturing and construction. The industry has not yet succeeded in exploiting the untapped potential of women. However, there are MINT promotion programmes that are working specifically to improve the image of ICT professions among women and to promote self-confidence. This encourages women to apply. This alone is often enough.
In some companies and for certain positions, applications from women lead to success more quickly than applications from men. The reason: Many companies have now recognised the advantages of mixed teams. A team made up of people of different ages, genders, educational backgrounds and cultural experience often acts more creatively. This is why some companies prefer to hire women. In some cases, they even pay a higher fee for the placement of female candidates.
Digitalization as a door opener
Moreover, current developments in the labour market are not only encouraging new forms of work such as top sharing. It is also driven by digitisation. Through automation, this not only threatens and destroys jobs for women in positions with lower qualifications, but also enables flexible forms of work such as home office. It has also created new business opportunities, for example, to set up one’s own company.
The rate of women in Switzerland who move around in the start-up ecosystem and set up businesses is still small, but such projects receive particularly large and positive attention these days. Mothers founded a Coworking Space with childcare last year, in order to combine family and job in a way that saves energy and makes it easier for parents to reconcile family and job. At the same time, they act as role models who encourage a change in the way society thinks.
This rethinking is also necessary. After all, there are many framework conditions that need to be improved. One of these is taxation, which usually puts women at a disadvantage. The fact that second income, for example, is taxed more heavily is an absurdity. The tax system must be changed because it is based on a distribution of roles from the last century. In addition, Switzerland has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to childcare. But until this is achieved, it is important to identify as many opportunities for women as possible and to exploit the advantages.
