PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Henry Herrera
Phone: +1-301-801-0608
Email: info@menandboys.net
Switzerland’s Silent Challenges: Men Face Gaps in Health, Education, and Family Life
April 25, 2025 – While Switzerland is known for progress and prosperity, men and boys across the country face troubling disparities that are often left out of national conversations on gender equality.
Education:
In 2019, 42.3% of Swiss women aged 25–34 had obtained a higher education diploma, compared to just 34.7% of men in the same age group. (1)
In 2022, gross tertiary school enrollment for males was 69.74% (2), while females reached 78.89%—a growing educational divide. (3)
Health:
In 2022, women in Switzerland had a life expectancy of 85.4 years, while men lagged behind at just 81.6 years—a near four-year gap. (4)
Mortality rates tell a similar story: in 2023, 473 out of every 100,000 men died, compared to 334 women. (5)
Suicide:
In 2023, 721 men in Switzerland died by suicide, compared to 274 women—a grim reminder of the gender gap in mental health. (6)
Child Custody:
Although shared custody has been the legal norm since 2000, According to a study by the Marie Meierhofer Institute for the Child and the Law Institute of the University of Zurich, 86% of children still live primarily with their mothers during the week. Fathers often depend on maternal consent to access shared parenting. (7)
Homelessness:
A 2020 survey found that 83% of Switzerland’s homeless population were men, underscoring a gender imbalance in housing insecurity. (8)
Workplace:
Men are also more likely to die from work-related causes—108.3 deaths per 100,000 male workers, compared to 48.4 for women. (9)
Conclusion:
Swiss policymakers must close these gaps. Supporting men and boys is essential to achieving true gender equality.
The International Council for Men and Boys is a non-governmental organization that is working to celebrate the contributions of men to society and to end the 12 sex disparities that affect men and boys around the world. Achieving #GenderEqualityForMen also will benefit women. https://www.menandboys.net/
Links:
2.https://tradingeconomics.com/switzerland/school-enrollment-tertiary-male-percent-gross-wb-data.html
5.https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/health/state-health/mortality-causes-death.html