PALGRAVE STUDIES IN MIGRATION HISTORY Series Editors: Philippe Rygiel, Per-Olof Grönberg, David Feldman and Marlou Schrover GENDER | downloaded: 29.9.2021 INNOVATION AND MIGRATION IN SWITZERLAND Francesca Falk https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.136389 source: Palgrave Studies in Migration History Series Editors Philippe Rygiel École normale supérieure de Lyon Saint-Germain-du-Puy, France Per-Olof Grönberg Luleå University of Technology Luleå, Sweden David Feldman Birkbeck College—University of London London, UK Marlou Schrover Leiden University Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands This series explores the history of migration, from antiquity to the present day and across a wide geographical scope. Taking a broad def- nition of migration, the editors welcome books that consider all forms of mobility, including cross-border mobility, internal migration and forced migration. These books investigate the causes and consequences of migration, whether for economic, religious, humanitarian or polit- ical reasons, and the policies and organizations that facilitate or chal- lenge mobility. Considering responses to migration, the series looks to migrants’ experiences, the communities left behind and the societies in which they settled. The editors welcome proposals for monographs, edited collections and Palgrave Pivots. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15185 Francesca Falk Gender Innovation and Migration in Switzerland Francesca Falk University of Fribourg Fribourg, Switzerland Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation Palgrave Studies in Migration History ISBN 978-3-030-01625-8 ISBN 978-3-030-01626-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01626-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957067 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019. This book is an open access publication. 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Cover illustration: © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland For Anna and Vian—and for everyone who cared for them while I was working at the university ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special thanks for their help in drafting this book go to Cenk Akdoganbulut, Sarah Baumann, Simone Bleuer, Kijan Espahangizi, Marcel Falk, Hans Fässler, Donna Gabaccia, Hansjörg Höchner, Paola Höchner-Gallicani, Rohit Jain, Chad Jorgenson, Elisabeth Joris, Sherry Keith, Zoé Kergomard, Inés Mateos, Barbara Miller, Martin Mühlheim, Julia Nentwich, Patricia Purtschert, Linda Ratschiller, Bernhard C. Schär, Celeste Ugochukwu, Regina Wecker, Aglaia Wespe, and to my colleagues from Studio Roma. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the participants at the following events for their valuable questions and comments: ‘From Colonisation to Globalisation’, conference at the University of Bern (2018); ‘Migration and Socio-Political Innovation’, conference co-organised with infoclio.ch at the University of Fribourg (2018); the lecture at the Casa d’Italia invited by Marche Mondiale des Femmes (2018); the farewell event at the Centro Italiano in Appenzell (2018); the lecture at the University for Seniors in Schaffhausen (2018); the keynote at the Summer University of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland in Chandolin (2017); the presentation at the ‘Fribourg Forum for Contemporary History’ at the University of Fribourg (2014 and 2018) and at the ‘Colloquium in Contemporary and Eastern European History’ at the University of Bern (2014). Finally, I would like to thank the staff of the Swiss National Library, the University Library Bern, the Cantonal and University Library of Fribourg, and the State Archive of the Canton Bern. vii CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 Switzerland as a Straggler in Relation to Gender Equality 1 An Exploratory Interview 4 ‘As If I Had Made a Journey Back in Time’ 5 Cooking and Sewing Courses for Girls, Geometry for Boys 7 Unequal Opportunities at School 10 Bring to the Fore Not Only Personal, But Also Structural Conditions 12 2 Conceptual Clarifcations 15 Gender Innovation 15 The Intersection of Discrimination and Privileges and New Reconfgurations 16 A ‘Migrantisation’ of the Past 18 The Relationship Between Spatial and Social Change 20 Migration and Mobility 22 A Unifed Analysis of Migration 23 3 Changing Gendered Divisions of Work 27 Nurses from Kerala 27 A Sedentary Bias in the History of Emigration 30 Colonial Constellations 33 ix x CONTENTS 4 Nurseries 39 The First Nurseries 40 The So-Called Boom Years 41 There Is Never a Single Story 42 Migration and the Development of Nurseries 46 The Normalising Effect of an Infrastructure 49 The Current Situation 51 Male Staff Members with a so-Called Migrant Background 52 5 Higher Education 57 Switzerland as a Pioneer—And What Lies Behind It 57 The Oft-Omitted Impact of These ‘Foreign’ Students 59 Feminist Forerunners Are not Unequivocal Heroines of History 60 The First Female Full Professor in Switzerland—Born in the Russian Empire 61 The First Extraordinara in Romandie—Born in the Russian Empire 64 The First Extraordinara in German-Speaking Switzerland—Again Born in… 65 6 Female Suffrage 69 Female Suffrage in Switzerland and Its Relation to Migration 70 The First Formal Association Promoting Political and Legal Equality for Women 71 Migrating Political Strategies 72 The Last Stragglers 73 An Indirect Experience of Migration 76 Not Downplaying the Effects of Racism 77 Women’s Right to Vote in Cultural Memory 78 Unseen Democratic Defcits in the Supposed Heartland of Democracy 80 ‘A New Swiss Export Article: Instruction in Democracy’ 81 1929: Fighting Women in Nigeria and Switzerland 83 7 Conclusion: An Awareness of Alternatives 87 Equal Rights Presented as Being Endangered by Migration 88 Migration and the Creation of New Ideas and Practices 90 Changing the Perspective Under Which Our Past Is Told and Our Future Imagined 92 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Abstract This introduction shows how, from a ‘migrant’s perspective’, the defects of a newly adopted home country become particularly visi- ble. Such voices, while always individual, allow us to paint a picture of Switzerland’s past that until now was seldom part of either Swiss histo- riography or collective memory. In this way, they bring to the fore not only private, but also structural conditions. And they make it possible to capture the political impact of everyday occurrences that are not passed down in other historical sources. Keywords A ‘migrant’s perspective’ · Switzerland as a straggler · Domestic education · Unequal opportunities at school SWITZERLAND AS A STRAGGLER IN RELATION TO GENDER EQUALITY In the boom years after the Second World War, Italians were by far the largest group of immigrants in Switzerland.1 According to a com- mon narrative in the history of migration, female ‘migrants’ coming 1 There is extensive literature on Italian immigration to Switzerland. A compact overview is offered by Toni Ricciardi, Breve storia dell’emigrazione italiana in Svizzera. Dall’esodo di massa alle nuove mobilità, Roma: Donzelli editore 2018. © The Author(s) 2019 1 F. Falk, Gender Innovation and Migration in Switzerland, Palgrave Studies in Migration History, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01626-5_1