Who we are
Unsere
Mission
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Femina Helvetica is a coalition of non-partisan, Swiss-based women with shared views on the topic of “gender” and who are working together to defend and protect the rights of women and girls.
These sex-based rights are increasingly under threat due to changes in public policy that conflate sex with “gender identity” or “gender expression”, a trend exacerbated by the adoption of the new sex-change law in 2022.
We call on all individuals, regardless of their political or religious affiliation, to join us in defending the fundamental rights of women and girls to privacy, dignity, fairness and safety.
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We believe that protecting women’s and girls’ sex-based rights is a pressing social issue today.
Although it is not possible to change sex, in Switzerland the law allows people to change their sex marker in legal documents as well as at the civil registry. The law (art. 30b Civil Code) was amended in 2022 to simplify the procedure. This happened without any public debate or media coverage, nor substantial due diligence or meaningful consultation with women's advocacy groups. The consequence is that any man can now change his legal sex to “female” by simply declaring himself to be a woman (gender self-identification), and demand that he be granted all of the hard-won rights and protections women have fought for over decades. This includes the right to access female-only spaces, services and resources.
The word “woman” has become a meaningless, undefinable concept, as any man can now declare himself to be a woman. When words such as "woman" and "girl" can no longer be accurately defined to mean "biological female", the loss of women's and girls' sex-based rights and protections is the resulting harmful outcome.
Aside from this law, Swiss women are threatened by another law amendment:
Swiss criminal law protects people against various forms of discrimination (art. 261bis Criminal Code). It is an offence to publicly denigrate a person or group of people on the grounds of their race, ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation, either by their words or actions.
New definition of woman.
What does it mean for women
and girls?
In 2024, an initiative was submitted to extend the list to include discrimination on the grounds of sex/gender (in German: “Geschlecht”). (See the article in Tagesanzeiger 19.12.2024,)
If this motion passes, we believe it would be more difficult to fight for women’s sex based rights, including the right to access female-only spaces, services and resources. It would also infringe on freedom of expression. Opinions on the topic of “gender identity” could be criminalized or would lead to a climate of self-censorship, where individuals would refrain from expressing themselves for fear of legal repercussions. This could restrict free debate on gender-related issues and thus affect the democratic debate in Switzerland.
Femina Helvetica critically questions the extension of the anti-racism norm to include sex/gender.
Femina Helvetica is committed to demanding that women's sex-based rights in Switzerland are upheld uniformly and consistently in the whole country.
Femina Helvetica is also committed to protecting children from the harmful belief and practice of “sex change” through “social transition”, drugs and surgeries.
Our mission
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Our shared vision is of a Switzerland where women and girls can feel reassured that their sex-based rights to privacy, dignity, fairness and safety are upheld both in the law and in public policy.
A country where women are free to convene and discuss women's issues, to speak openly without the threat of being silenced, censored, harassed or assaulted.
A country where children are told they are perfect just the way they are, and not treated with drugs, hormones and surgeries because they have been told they can change sex.
A country where all people can freely express their personalities, orientations and preferences, while at the same time acknowledging material, biological reality.
Dignity, fairness and safety should be upheld both in the law and in public policy.
