<P> From the mid 20th century the status of women improved greatly . Although Japan is often considered a very conservative country, it was in fact earlier than many European countries on giving women legal rights in the 20th century, as the 1947 Constitution of Japan provided a legal framework favorable to the advancement of women's equality in Japan . Japan for instance enacted women's suffrage in 1946, earlier than several European countries such as Switzerland (1971 at federal level; 1990 on local issues in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden), Portugal (1976 on equal terms with men, with restrictions since 1931), San Marino in 1959, Monaco in 1962, Andorra in 1970, and Liechtenstein in 1984 . </P> <P> The history of women's rights in Australia is a contradictory one: while Australia led the world in women's suffrage rights in the 19th century, it has been very slow in recognizing women's professional rights - it was not until 1966 that its marriage bar was removed . On the other hand, reforms which allowed women both to vote and stand for office in South Australia in the late 19th century were a cornerstone for women's political rights in other parts of the world . In this regard, Australia differs from other cultures, in that women's suffrage in Australia was one of the earliest objectives of the feminist movement there (beginning with South Australia and Western Australia) unlike other cultures, such as Eastern European cultures, where at the turn of the 20th century the feminist movement focused on labour rights, access to professions and education, rather than political rights . To this day, Australia has a quite low percentage of women in business executive roles compared to other countries with equivalent corporate structures . </P> <P> 17th century natural law philosophers in Britain and America, such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean - Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, developed the theory of natural rights in reference to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and the Christian theologist Aquinas . Like the ancient philosophers, 17th century natural law philosophers defended slavery and an inferior status of women in law . Relying on ancient Greek philosophers, natural law philosophers argued that natural rights were not derived from god, but were "universal, self - evident, and intuitive", a law that could be found in nature . They believed that natural rights were self - evident to "civilised man" who lives "in the highest form of society". Natural rights derived from human nature, a concept first established by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium in Concerning Human Nature . Zenon argued that each rational and civilized male Greek citizen had a "divine spark" or "soul" within him that existed independent of the body . Zeno founded the Stoic philosophy and the idea of a human nature was adopted by other Greek philosophers, and later natural law philosophers and western humanists . Aristotle developed the widely adopted idea of rationality, arguing that man was a "rational animal" and as such a natural power of reason . Concepts of human nature in ancient Greece depended on gender, ethnic, and other qualifications and 17th century natural law philosophers came to regard women along with children, slaves and non-whites, as neither "rational" nor "civilised". Natural law philosophers claimed the inferior status of women was "common sense" and a matter of "nature". They believed that women could not be treated as equal due to their "inner nature". The views of 17th century natural law philosophers were opposed in the 18th and 19th century by evangelical natural theology philosophers such as William Wilberforce and Charles Spurgeon, who argued for the abolition of slavery and advocated for women to have rights equal to that of men . Modern natural law theorists, and advocates of natural rights, claim that all people have a human nature, regardless of gender, ethnicity or other qualifications, therefore all people have natural rights . </P> <P> 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 (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 . 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 and in Spain until 1975 . In addition, marriage bars, 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 . </P>

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