by Laureline Duvillard, swissinfo.ch

Although women in Switzerland are making progress as judges, there are still very few female court lawyers.
Long hours, the lack of part-time work and expectations that women will take up family rather than business law help explain the gap and why women in general don’t rise to the upper law echelons.

“When I was elected in 1990, I kept being asked: are you there because you had a career plan? My answer: not at all,” said Anne Colliard, the first female state prosecutor in Switzerland, who retired at the end of last year.

A man might not have been asked the same question. But what is clear is that Colliard’s election as state prosecutor in canton Fribourg came as a surprise. Read more