Legislating Social Work Values? the Role of Social Workers In Swiss Parliaments

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Social work is inherently connected to formal and informal policy processes, and professional standards explicitly mandate engagement as policy actors. Holding elected office represents a particularly direct form of such engagement, yet it remains underexplored in international research. Existing studies have largely examined factors influencing social workers’ decisions to run for office, while comparatively little attention has been paid to their numerical presence in legislatures and their substantive policy engagement once elected. Addressing this gap, the present study uses Switzerland as a case study to examine two research questions: (1) How many social workers hold political office in Swiss state and federal legislatures? (2) To what extent do legislators trained as social workers engage in policy areas related to social work?

METHODS: The professional backgrounds of all 2,840 legislators serving at the state and federal levels were analyzed using parliamentary websites, official documents, and personal webpages. For legislators trained as social workers, submitted bills and memberships in legislative committees were examined to assess the thematic focus of their policy engagement. In addition, ongoing ties to professional associations and social advocacy organizations were analyzed.

RESULTS: Sixty-five social workers were identified across 20 of 26 state legislatures (2.5%), along with five social workers in the federal legislature (2%). Legislators trained as social workers frequently maintained strong professional ties through continued employment in the field, membership in professional associations, or involvement in social advocacy organizations. Compared with legislators without a background in social work, they were disproportionately active as initiators of social welfare-related bills and were overrepresented on legislative committees specializing in social (welfare) policy.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This study is among the first to systematically assess the numerical presence of social workers in parliamentary bodies. It demonstrates that social workers constitute a small yet clearly identifiable group within Swiss state and federal legislatures. Importantly, their presence is not merely symbolic. Legislators trained as social workers exhibit distinctive patterns of legislative behavior that closely align with core social work values. Consistent with broader political science research, these findings underscore the importance of descriptive representation for substantive policy engagement and suggest that professional social work training shapes legislative priorities. The study points to important implications for social work practice, education, and research, particularly concerning the profession’s role in democratic governance and policy-making.