Women's Citizenship in Switzerland : What Can we Learn from the Institutionalization of Women's Policy Machinery (WPM)?

In the last 35 years Switzerland witnessed a specific form of Institutionalization of Women's Policy Machinery (WPM) on all levels of government. One can learn a great deal on citizenship of women in Switzerland from these structures inside the state. Women's movement, women's organizations, women in parliament and men in executive power have been crucial for the establishment and maintenance of women's policy offices, women's commissions and gender equality offices in Switzerland. At least on cantonal level most cantons run a gender equality office. Along the lines of descriptive and substantial representation their structural strengths and weaknesses are able to estimate how far women became citizen in Switzerland between 1975 and 2005. The enduring political struggle over gender equality agencies is one piece of a larger struggle of women taking place in political processes. The institutionalization of Women's Policy Machinery as a global phenomena pushed by the United Nations on their way to become the international level of government above national states had clearly an impact on Switzerland.