Articles

‘At Bulova, 75% of the workers are women’: Workers’ Strike and Neuchâtel’s Women’s Liberation Movement Put to the Test, 1976

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Abstract

This article examines the involvement of Neuchâtel’s Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) in the 1976 Bulova watch factory strike as a formative moment in the emergence of a ‘class struggle tendency’ within Swiss feminism. Drawing on feminist publications such as La Fronde, it explores how activists sought to build solidarity with women workers amid industrial restructuring and the unions’ insufficient responsiveness to women’s concerns. While the WLM’s interventions – such as organising a crèche – were largely unreciprocated, the experience prompted critical reflection on cross-class feminist strategies. The article situates this case within wider national and transnational debates on socialist feminism and highlights the challenges of aligning feminist and labour struggles in Switzerland’s context of ‘labour peace.’ 

Keywords: second wave, feminism, strike, feminist press, unions, Switzerland, cross-class solidarity, watchmaking industry

How to Cite:

Zuber, A., (2025) “‘At Bulova, 75% of the workers are women’: Workers’ Strike and Neuchâtel’s Women’s Liberation Movement Put to the Test, 1976”, DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies 12(2), 125-137. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/digest.91659