Children are simply not a private matter.

Kathrin Bertschy has been active in Swiss politics for over 15 years, starting as a city councilor in Bern and working since 2011 as a National Councillor for the Green Liberal Party of Bern. The economist is committed to the major political issues of our era: European cooperation, climate protection, sustainability and equal rights for everyone. The mother of two views affordable childcare as a key infrastructure for Switzerland’s economic development.

Mrs. Bertschy, why, despite many advances, does Switzerland still struggle with balancing family and career?

It’s due to many factors: our system of direct democracy with a militia parliament dominated by men, which only functions because women support them; federalism, which means family support measures must be debated in each of the 26 cantonal levels; the late introduction of women’s suffrage, which put women’s political participation 50 years behind other countries; the prosperity of the post-war era, which, unlike in many countries, allowed for only one working parent in Switzerland; and the very persistent narrative that children and the family are a private matter, not of state concern. This narrative has primarily affected women and has been passively accepted.

What are the consequences?

Laws were shaped around this post-war family model – the man works, the woman takes care of the children – but women have been paying the price for this very patriarchal family image to this day. This is evident in the tax model, which makes a second income unattractive due to joint taxation, and in the pension system, where most women are financially much worse off in old age. This system creates barriers. And for a long time, it also prevented investments in supplementary childcare – and still does. The responsibility was delegated to the cantons and municipalities, which were more or less supportive. Now, we’re hitting a wall because there’s a huge gap between the economy’s demand for more well-qualified women, traditional family and role models, and the inertia of our political system.

You’re employed, a busy National Councillor and a mother. How do you manage it all?

I’m battling the same challenges countless other families face and hitting my limits. My partner and I consciously maintain an egalitarian role model with clear divisions of responsibility so that when I’m in charge, I can be fully there for the children. I’m “lucky” in that I have very young children and, as a politician during the pandemic, I had to attend fewer evening sessions and events. Had I started my political career 10 years earlier, it would have been different.

What role does external childcare play?

It’s enormously important and fantastic – my children go to childcare or kindergarten two to three days a week. It enriches them because they are pedagogically supported, experience things with other children and do activities on a scale we could not offer them.

That sounds very good.

Yes, but it’s not enough. For many middle-class families, childcare is barely affordable. For many Swiss families, the monthly childcare bill consumes a significant portion of their income. On average, 35 percent of an income – in no other country in the world do parents have to spend such a high proportion of their earnings on supplementary childcare as in Switzerland. Switzerland must be a country where gainful employment is also worthwhile for middle-class families and especially for women. And it’s not the rule in politics that it works. Politics in Switzerland often occurs outside the opening hours of supplementary family institutions. There are also no fixed voting times that can be scheduled into the daily routine as known by other parliaments. We vote when the last item on the agenda has been discussed. I’m also part-time employed and working. Without grandparents to cover all the irregularities, this wouldn’t be feasible. Moreover, it’s not a good quality of parliamentary democracy if it can actually only be exercised by people who are extremely flexible or receive great support in their private lives. This results in underrepresentation of population groups like young parents and makes it even more difficult to change the framework conditions for better compatibility.

What personal price do you pay?

It was my free choice. But yes, sports, maintaining friendships, leisure time and sleep are all scarce commodities for me. And professionally, I can’t do everything I want or might be able to do. But that’s the case for everyone with children. What’s important to me is that my children are wonderfully cared for and educated, and they thrive thanks to stable care situations inside and outside the family. And I consciously chose this path, especially the political activity, because I can fight for something important to me and this country and also for my children. It gives me a lot of strength and motivates me. I have contributed significantly to the introduction of care vouchers in Bern. This has led to significant relief for families, even if they are still set too low, which affects the middle class. That’s why I am committed at the federal level to the childcare law so that we finally get a reliable and good infrastructure.

You talk about infrastructure. What would this look like in concrete terms?

We need a reliable childcare infrastructure, just as the state offers in other areas. And we need to make it affordable for those who need it daily to pursue their employment or education. Just as the SBB aligns its train network, schedule and prices with commuters, not those who occasionally go on weekend trips. We must move away from the thinking that infrastructures are made of concrete and steel. In the past, we invested in infrastructures that were significantly responsible for the prosperity of this country and the ability of our population to be employed. Reliable and affordable childcare is the infrastructure needed by today’s workforce. It’s about operating costs, investing in the quality of care, and in the education and training of staff, about fair wages. Empirical studies show that quality childcare encourages young parents, especially mothers, to maintain their employment. The Federal Court has held in leading cases on post-marital maintenance that women must be economically independent – the life-shaping marriage no longer exists, and the Federal Council wants to reform widow’s pensions in the same direction. In short: women must be able to take care of themselves even more strongly in the future, especially if they have children. So we must also give them the chance to remain employed without interruption. Alongside affordable, high-quality childcare infrastructure, we need parental leave shared equally so that women no longer bear the risk of loss of earnings alone. We must create opportunities for parents to shoulder family responsibility and employment equally. Other countries are already doing this, it’s high time that Switzerland catches up.

You have two daughters. What would you like to pass on to them when they are grown up?

That they live out their calling and demand from themselves, their environment and politics that this is compatible with a family. Knowing that it’s not always easy. And that they fight for things to change for the better.

“This narrative persists stubbornly but is far from accurate: in the past, children have always been a woman’s matter. They pay the price with low incomes, insufficient pensions and by putting their careers on hold. It’s time for reliable and affordable childcare infrastructures.”