Work patterns reveal gender disparity

Women are more likely to be on call and work on weekends Keystone

Women are more likely to work part time and at weekends, be on call duty and juggle multiple jobs, according to a labour force survey by the Federal Statistical Office.

The results, released on Thursday, reveal that slightly more than a third of the Swiss labour force worked part time in 2014, an increase of almost 5% over a decade. The majority of women (60%) were engaged in part time jobs while only 16% of men chose this option.

 The trend of flexible working hours is also  increasing, with 44.6% of Swiss workers benefiting from it in 2014. But proportionately more men enjoy a flexible schedule: half of them versus slightly over a third of women.

Women also worked more odd hours than men, including Saturday (22.3% vs 18.8%) and Sunday (11.3% vs 9.9%), as well as on call duty (6.1% vs 3.7%). However, more men worked night shifts.

Women also appear to enjoy less job security than their male counterparts. Those with a tertiary education formed the group most likely to have temporary work contracts, making up 11.2% of this category as opposed to the Swiss average of 7.4%.

In addition, one in ten women juggled multiple jobs, almost twice the proportion of men. Those with a secondary education were three times as likely to work multiple jobs than their male counterparts.