Editing Women's rights (section)

=== Equal employment ===

[[File:Elizabeth Blackwell.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Elizabeth Blackwell]] was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the [[United States]], as well as the first woman on the [[UK Medical Register]].]]
{{Further|Employment discrimination law in the European Union}}
[[Labour law|Employment rights]] for women include non-discriminatory access of women to jobs and [[equal pay]]. The rights of women and men to have equal pay and equal benefits for equal work were openly denied by the [[British Hong Kong]] Government up to the early 1970s. Leslie Wah-Leung Chung (鍾華亮, 1917–2009), President of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association 香港政府華員會<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hkccsa.org/ |title=香港政府華員會 |publisher=Hkccsa.org |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> (1965–68), contributed to the establishment of equal pay for men and women, including the right for married women to be permanent employees. Before this, the job status of a woman changed from permanent employee to temporary employee once she was married, thus losing the pension benefit. Some of them even lost their jobs. Since nurses were mostly women, this improvement of the rights of married women meant much to the nursing profession.<ref name="RebeccaChan" /><ref name="torontosun">{{cite news|url=http://m.torontosun.com/2012/04/06/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived|title=Celebrating two lives well lived|first=Laura |last=Pedersen  |newspaper=Toronto Sun|access-date=24 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716175556/http://m.torontosun.com/2012/04/06/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived|archive-date=16 July 2012|date=2012-04-06}}</ref><ref name="ottawasun">{{cite web|url=http://www.ottawasun.com/videos/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived/1550780688001|title=Celebrating two lives well lived : Featured OTT : Videos|publisher=ottawasun.com|date=6 April 2012|access-date=24 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704133812/http://www.ottawasun.com/videos/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived/1550780688001|archive-date=4 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Connor |first=Kevin |url=http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/07/life-love-and-service-recalled |title=Life, love and service &#124; Toronto & GTA  |newspaper=Toronto Sun |date=7 April 2012 |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/2012-04-08/city1333873203d3799095.html |title=曾參與二戰及香港保衛戰華裔夫婦.加美軍方墓前致最高敬意_星島日報_加拿大多倫多中文新聞網。 Canada Toronto Chinese newspaper |work=Sing Tao Daily |access-date=9 December 2013 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004233037/http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/2012-04-08/city1333873203d3799095.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://epapertor.worldjournal.com/showtor.html?apJi+mgEEOB3Bg1Fmi3TsQ==,MMV3f+xDb0CKYCyOu+WesQ== |title=世界日報電子報 – World Journal ePaper |publisher=Epapertor.worldjournal.com |access-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812123852/http://epapertor.worldjournal.com/showtor.html?apJi+mgEEOB3Bg1Fmi3TsQ==,MMV3f+xDb0CKYCyOu+WesQ== |archive-date=12 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20120408/tfc1.htm |title=明報新聞網海外版 – 加東版(多倫多) – Canada Toronto Chinese Newspaper – 社區新聞 |publisher=Mingpaotor.com |access-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812061427/http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20120408/tfc1.htm |archive-date=12 August 2013}}</ref> In some European countries, married women could not work without the consent of their husbands until a few decades ago, for example in [[France]] until 1965<ref name=Guillaumin>{{cite book |last=Guillaumin|first=Colette|year=1994 |title=Racism, Sexism, Power, and Ideology |pages=193–95}}</ref><ref name=Meltzer>{{cite book |last=Meltzer |first=Françoise |year=1995 |title=Hot Property: The Stakes and Claims of Literary Originality |url=https://archive.org/details/hotpropertystake00melt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/hotpropertystake00melt/page/88 88]|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226519753 }}</ref> and in [[Spain]] until 1975.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm|title=Spain – SOCIAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES|work=countrystudies.us|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> In addition, [[marriage bar]]s, a practice adopted from the late 19th century to the 1970s across many countries, including Austria, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Switzerland, restricted married women from employment in many professions.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=23196053|journal=Saothar|volume=12|pages=47–52|last1=O'Leary|first1=Eoin|title=The Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Marriage Bar for Women National Teachers, 1933-1958 |year=1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/history/scotland_britain_1880_now/employment_women/revision/3/|title=Standard Grade Bitesize History – Women and work : Revision, p. 3|publisher=BBC|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

A key issue towards insuring gender equality in the workplace is the respecting of [[maternity rights]] and [[reproductive rights]] of women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Modern-Workplaces-Policy-Position-November-2012.pdf |title=Modern workplaces, maternity rights, and gender equality |access-date=2016-04-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509134200/http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Modern-Workplaces-Policy-Position-November-2012.pdf |archive-date=9 May 2016}}</ref> [[Maternity leave]] (and [[paternity leave]] in some countries) and [[parental leave]] are temporary periods of absence from employment granted immediately before and after childbirth in order to support the mother's full recovery and grant time to care for the baby.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Michael |last2=Milligan |first2=Kevin |title=How Does Job-Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers' Employment? |journal=Journal of Labor Economics |date=October 2008 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=655–691 |doi=10.1086/591955 |s2cid=154669761 }}</ref>
Different countries have different rules regarding maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave. In the [[European Union]] (EU) the policies vary significantly by country, but the EU members must abide by the minimum standards of the [[Pregnant Workers Directive]] and [[Directive (EU) 2019/1158|Work–Life Balance Directive]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/aid-development-cooperation-fundamental-rights/your-rights-eu/know-your-rights/equality_en|title=Equality|website=European Commission – European Commission|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>