Swiss professional snowboarder Anne-Flore Marxer has announced she’ll take part in strike action planned in Switzerland this Friday, 14th June, in the battle for equal pay and pension rights between men and women as well as action on discrimination and sexual harassment.
Equal rights were enshrined in Swiss law a decade ago but women in Switzerland on average still make 20 per cent less than men.
“I find it extremely important to go out in the streets on the 14th of June to demonstrate the importance of women’s participation in our society. When I started snowboarding, women were not allowed to participate in slope style competitions. Men had decided it was too dangerous for women,” 35-year-old Anne-Flore Marxer told Reuters, adding,
“And that is still the case today in free ride competitions. The first male skier gets $8,000 while the first woman snowboarder gets $4,000 for the same competition, the same day, on the same mountain. There is still so much to be done to bring gender equality.”
Marxer was born in Lausanne and starting snowboarding at an early age as soon as she could walk. She started competing in 2004 and won the Freeride World Tour in 2011.
There was a general women’s strike in Switzerland nearly 30 years ago when half a million women left homes and businesses. Friday’s strike has the theme: “more time, more money, more respect”.