Swiss voters support increase in women's retirement age

Swiss voters have accepted the government's pension reform plan by a narrow margin.

The plan would raise the retirement age for women from 64 to 65, bringing it in line with the age for men, according to Deutsche Welle.

A concurrent vote on imposing stricter regulations in farming, failed to garner majority support.

According to Swiss government figures, the pension system changes had won by 50.57% of the vote, with counting having been finalized in all cantons.

Switzerland's government attempted to introduce similar reform plans in 2004 and 2017, both of which failed when put to vote.

Opponents of the plan, including trade unions and left-leaning political parties, argued that women face significant discrimination and are less well paid on average, meaning they receive smaller pensions than men.

According to Switzerland's Economy Ministry, women received on average nearly 35% smaller pensions than men in 2020.

Polls ahead of the vote indicated that 70% of men were in favor of the reform, compared with only 42% of women. Early projections on Sunday showed that a majority of voters in the German-speaking part of Switzerland supported the reform, while the French-speaking west largely voted against it.

A separate vote on increasing funding for the reform through a rise in the sales tax garnered over 55% support.