Should we speak of a flaw in the Swiss legislative system? A man turning 64 changed his first name and sex at the beginning of the year with the civil status of his municipality, in the canton of Lucerne. From now on, this former gentleman is a lady. Why this change? To be able to receive his old-age pension a year earlier. Indeed, in Switzerland, the legal retirement age is 64 for women and 65 for men. The newspaper Luzerner Zeitung, which reports this incredible story, is formal: this change of sex, or gender, as you wish, has material interest as its sole motivation.
How did we come to this? In 2020, the Swiss Parliament voted, without giving rise to heated debates, a law facilitating the change of sex on simple declaration to the municipal administrative services. It only costs 75 francs (72.50 euros). With the new law, which came into effect on January 1, there is no need, as before, for psychological or hormonal examinations. A brief interview is sufficient, which makes it possible to ascertain the apparent mental health of the applicant.
Perverse effects
Some wonder whether this relaxed legislation, which places “Switzerland at the forefront of gender self-determination in Europe”, as the underlined journalist Delphine Gendre this Friday morning on Radio Suisse Romande, will not give rise to undesired effects, as some right-wing parliamentarians had worried about before the vote.
In her column, Delphine Gendre evokes several scenarios. The widow’s pension is more generous for a woman than for a man. A widower could thus have an interest in declaring himself a widow. And what about military service? In Switzerland, it is compulsory for men, not for women. Again, to cut it, would a declaration of sex change be enough? The question was posed by the president of the young PLR (right) to the authorities of the canton of Zurich. He is still waiting for an answer.
For our Swiss colleague, noting the irony of situations where the unfavorably discriminated gender is not what one might think, “it seems that it is administratively more advantageous for a man to become a woman” than the reverse.
The case reported by Luzerner Zeitung, if it were to be emulated, could force the Swiss Parliament to review its copy. To prevent the genre from becoming for some an opportunistic gadget of what used to be called the consumer society.