Women and men now have legally and statistically equal access to the university as an educational institution. However, women remain in a weaker position than their men counterparts regarding professional and academic career prospects. Realizing equal opportunities will take work over the long term.

In a 2007 status report, the Swiss state secretary for education and research (SBF) and the Swiss Federal Office for Vocational Education and Technology (BBT) reached a clear finding: in addition to horizontal segregation by discipline, the academic world is still structured by vertical segregation by rank. Although the proportion of women has slowly increased at all levels of the university hierarchy in recent years, the higher the level, the lower the proportion of women. While women made up around 50 percent of enrollments at Swiss universities in 2005, they constituted 45 percent of graduates, 40 percent of completed doctorates, 23 percent of habilitations, and just 12 percent of professorships. Women face structural disadvantages when advancing up the academic career ladder. In comparison with thirty-three European reference countries, Switzerland ranks twenty-ninth in terms of women’s participation in science and research.
“Vicious cycle of statistical discrimination”
Gender-based selection mechanisms also shape the labor market, and career advancement opportunities are still unevenly distributed. The status report notes that the career positions of graduates hardly differ immediately after completing their degrees. However, after a period of four years, men are significantly more often in leadership positions than women. Above middle management, women encounter a glass ceiling.

Poor compatibility between family and career plays a role here, but it is significantly reinforced by “statistical discrimination,” the assumption that women will, regardless of individual situations, show a stronger commitment to family life than men. This serves companies as justification for assigning women positions with worse promotion prospects and lower pay, reinforcing the patterns of career advancement and employment that have long privileged men, effectively robing women of professional motivation, and perpetuating what many have called the “vicious cycle of statistical discrimination.” Achieving equal opportunities through equality policies is a long-term, perhaps permanent task.