Page 41 - U4SSC Factsheet, Pully, Switzerland, June 2020

sources that can provide guidance in this regard. The city should also conduct gender analysis of its
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city or municipal departments, commissions and boards.

As motherhood and lack of support in household duties are two of the most universally cited reasons for
women either working fewer hours or choosing not to work, improving day-care availability for children
will lead to more female labour market participation. Pully reports that 29 per cent of its resident pre-
school age children (0–3 years of age) are covered by public and private day-care centres. Childcare
availability should be assessed further for improvement, because increasing the number of institutes
and facilities available for childcare in the city that are affordable while granting a good learning and
safe environment for children will help women with children capitalize on equal opportunities in the
labour force, as they would not be limited by the lack of affordable and quality childcare facilities. This
latter outcome can also be achieved by adopting other progressive and equality-centred fiscal, wage
and social protection policies.

Income distribution in Pully (as measured by the Gini Coefficient) is reported to be 0.51, which is higher
than the national levels of 0.30 (2015) that lies close to the median values among OECD countries.
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The rate of poverty is lower in Pully than the national average of around 7 per cent (2015). Notably,
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Pully’s rate of poverty is also much lower than the poverty rate of 8 per cent (2015) in the greater
Lake Geneva region. The national poverty rate is reported to be above average among people over
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the retirement age of 65 in particular, who find themselves relying on their savings to pay towards the
cost of living. Many cantonal and municipal authorities in Switzerland, under pressure to implement
spending cuts in the last few years, have been forced to reduce welfare payments or programmes to
prevent poverty.

Optimizing social inclusion and democratic participation KPIs: It is recommended that Pully measures
and monitors the level of risk of poverty or social exclusion among children, youth and seniors.

Finally, the voter participation rate in Pully is reported to be 46 per cent. As engaging people in decision
making improves the quality and the inclusiveness of the decisions – and also helps improve on the
existing laws and regulations – efforts should be directed at the municipal level to facilitate a higher
participation rate.

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