Gleichstellungspolitik in der Schweiz: Einführung in ein umstrittenes PolitikfeldFuchs, GesineOpladen, Verlag Barbara Budrich (2019), 263 p., ISBN 978‐3‐8474‐0

Abstract

With her book, Gesine Fuchs proposes an introduction to gender equality policy in Switzerland by analyzing the continuity and changes since the beginning of the 1990s in this policy field. Motivated by the lack of any existing comprehensive analysis of this policy field in Switzerland, the analysis aims to provide comparability for the Swiss case and foster its inclusion in international debates on gender equality policy. The author contends that there has been only slow and very modest progress in achieving gender equality during the last couple of decades in Switzerland. The lack of progress is attributed to the mix of instruments and policy principles in Swiss gender equality policy. By focusing on agenda-setting and policy formulation, the empirical analysis explains the reasons for the current design of policies. The author proposes to analyze several dimensions in the policy process: The author looks at how policy problems and solutions are defined by analyzing the general interpretive frames and by asking how the structure of political conflict impacts policy formulation. She also provides data on how gender knowledge and its institutionalization through state feminism influence policy outcomes. To start out, the book proposes to think about gender equality policies in terms of layered governance regimes reaching from general gender norms, over gender equality policies to the specific mixes of policy instruments. The empirical analysis in chapters 3 to 6 is structured in a similar fashion, starting out by discussing the main policies addressing gender equality and then moving on to specific policy issues, equality in the work place, namely salary and sexual harassment in the workplace. The theoretical framework – presented in the second chapter – combines elements and concepts from the Advocacy Coalition Framework, state feminism and legal mobilization. After presenting the different theoretical tools, chapter 3 provides a general overview of gender regimes with regard to social security, employment, maternity, child care and care work. The chapter concludes that current policies lead to new inequalities and do not succeed in changing the gender-specific division of labour. The author argues that the overall goal of gender equality has not been reached. The following chapters address the reasons behind the limited success through an analysis of the policy-making process and the resulting mix of policy instruments and steering principles that are responsible for the modest outcome. The book then shifts to discussing agenda-setting on gender issues in chapter 4, which includes a discussion about representation in parliament and executive functions. Overall, the chapter points out that progress has been made through substantial representation and mobilization by women within and outside political institutions. More specifically, the chapter analyses agenda-setting in parliament and how the policy issues evolved over time. The results highlight the importance of substantial representation: female members of parliament are more active in proposing measures on gender equality than their male counterparts on both sides of the political spectrum. The results also indicate that soft modes of steering, such as persuasion or information, have better chances to pass than those involving regulation and institutional changes. The book turns thereafter to the analysis of actual policy formulation in the subsequent chapter (chapter 5). The author starts out with an overview of the Federal Act on Gender Equality (Gleichstellungsgesetz) and shows that the more binding policy proposals were controversial. The Advocacy Coalition Framework is used to explain the formulation process by analyzing the frames in the debate and the formation of two stable coalitions: an economically liberal one on the centre-right that advocated for limited state intervention and soft policy instruments and a second one, on the political left that believed in the states’ capacity to efficiently address gender inequality. Given the party strengths, the first coalition had more success in implementing its policy agenda. As a result, current policies are a mix of instruments with limited steering power, including no state controls or sanctions. The implementation is decentralized and relies on the collaboration of target groups, such as employers, to adopt anti-discrimination measures. The chapter raises the question of whether the mix of instruments that included some prohibitions and prescriptions, but which primarily worked with soft tools such as information, prevention and incentives, was actually efficient. The author discusses this question by looking at pay equity and sexual harassment, through the analysis of various projects that were financed by state incentives. The author points out that in terms of pay equity, many projects have been financed and various instruments developed, but nothing is binding, all remains voluntary in the private sector and hence the likelihood to find out about salary discrimination is limited. In the case of sexual harassment, the author comes to a similar conclusion by demonstrating the weak steering capacity of current policies. Following this detailed discussion of policy implementation regarding discrimination and harassment in the workplace, the author raises the question of whether legal mobilization succeeds in achieving the goal of gender equality. The author demonstrates that courts have a very limited capacity to compensate for the lack of binding policies. First of all, considerable progress has been made with the Dispute Mediation Bodies (Schlichtungsstellen) that address work-related discrimination issues as a first and non-judicial instance. Nevertheless, vulnerable and precarious members of the working force have difficulties accessing this prejudicial mechanism. Legal mobilization in courts has resulted in some success regarding non-discrimination in the public sector, but clearly – as has been shown by many other studies – legal mobilization alone is insufficient to bring about change. It has the most potential to contribute to gender equality, if there is also considerable mobilization in other political arenas. The chapter concludes that once more, the individualistic and reactive anti-discrimination approach prevailing in Switzerland does not create favourable legal opportunity structures to promote change through the judicial venue. After the discussion of law as a steering mechanism, chapter six addresses organization as a resource to bring about change by looking at gender equality offices (Gleichstellungstellen). This chapter traces the development of the political conflict around the establishment and functioning of gender equality offices. It shows that several factors contribute to the success of such bodies in implementing gender equality policies, namely the offices’ resources and the capacity of equal opportunities delegates (Gleichstellungsbeauftragte) to form successful coalitions within the public administration. Besides their specific knowledge on gender equality, the delegates’ networks within the administration and their knowledge of internal processes are indispensable resources for developing gender equality strategies. In short, gender equality offices assume an important part in successfully implementing the Federal Act on Gender Equality, but the degree to which they succeed depends on the specific context of each office and canton. The book's concluding chapter points out once more that progress has been made in achieving gender equality, but that it has stalled since the early 2000s. The mix of policy instruments and steering principles in the current Swiss gender equality policy are to be blamed. They are the result of the individualistic and reactive anti-discrimination approach favoured by the centre-right coalition in parliament. The author does not hide her preference for stronger and more binding state intervention and at the same time suggests that future policies need to pay more attention to socioeconomic inequalities and the intersectionality of different dimensions of oppression. She also emphasizes the need for more intensive monitoring of gender equality. The book provides a useful introduction for students of public policy that are less familiar with policy developments on gender equality, and for the more savoury scholar there are multiple useful data sources on agenda setting and framing that will certainly inspire further research projects. Given its breath and detailed analysis of some specific gender equality issues, the book is an enriching read for any scholar who wants to deepen her or his knowledge in the field of gender equality policy in Switzerland. The book's contribution is principally empirical, by providing a rather comprehensive introduction to gender equality policies in Switzerland and by focusing on the core issues of representation, institutionalization and gender equality policies with respect to social security, family and the workplace. Other policy issues could have been considered, for example gender equality policy in higher education, but any introduction needs to focus on specific issues, and gender equality in the workplace is a particularly salient one. On several occasions, it would have been useful to provide more data on the policy outcomes, as the book makes multiple claims regarding the lack of impact and success, yet without providing comparable data over time or engaging in policy evaluation in the strict sense. There are various indicators available to document progress in gender equality, and even if it is not always possible to isolate the impact of policies on the observed change, the data would provide some precise estimation of where we stand and the progress made. The book's call for paying more attention to the intersectionality of different dimensions of oppression and discrimination within Swiss gender equality policy could have been elaborated in more detail and would position the contribution more strongly and explicitly within current debates in feminist policy analysis. This said, the author engages with various theoretical debates, reaching from state feminism, over the Advocacy Coalition Framework, social movements and legal mobilization, to policy instruments and governance more generally. These approaches are all well applied and provide a theoretically rich and well-informed analysis of Swiss gender equality policy.