First Lady Abigail Adams was the wife of the second United States (U.S.) President and the mother of another U.S. President; she successfully ran a farm while her husband was away writing the Declaration of Independence. Her famous letters to her husband urged him to " remember the ladies" when declaring independent suffrage for humans who lacked the divine right of kings, and also described the hard work of managing a family business while raising and educating several children while combatting illness.1 Gender equity in the workplace is therefore an old problem, but one that has garnered significant attention in recent decades.
Unfortunately, current international and U.S. workplace policies still reflect many of the dilemmas that were confronted by Mrs. Adams at the birth of the U.S. in 1776. This paper and its concurrent session at Safety 2016 examine some of the unresolved issues that remain, despite success stories and great strides in gender equity around the world. Many industrial hygiene and occupational health concerns have yet to be resolved regarding the role of women in the workplace. Issues of concern in occupational health and safety include: whether there is or ought to be a separate agenda for women's health protections at work, elements of reproductive health at work that may impact men and women differently, and the resulting health disparities that may arise from inadequate protections within the scope of gender equity. There are questions surrounding how to implement effective occupational safety and health compliance programs offering fair protection for all humans in the workplace. In this paper, we raise many questions, but have answers for only a few of them. We encourage you to carry on our work, by asking questions and attempting to resolve these difficult problems.
