[bornabox]

To each of those individual data points, I can give you counter-examples that do not support this theory. It's actually extremely common for women to work. Usually a couple (with kids) works each 80% or some other kind of combination of %.... Don't spread misinformation, please. Or maybe you were misunderstanding the situation? Source: Am Swiss (lived large parts of my life abroad, but am back in Switzerland since 5 years)

[throwaway301]

I can also give several examples of women with children who work, but I can only give one example in my social circle (and my wife's) social circle where the woman wasn't forced to take either a substantial reduction in contractual workload after returning from maternity leave, was fired outright, or was otherwise subject to some form of discrimination for being pregnant.

Our friends are largely university educated and are a mix of expats and Swiss nationals. It is - very - well known among Swiss women in particular that getting pregnant and having a child is a detriment to your career.

I agree that personal observations shouldn't be used to generalize an entire population. However, I've heard enough to believe that what we've seen isn't out of the norm.