Gender discrimination based on pregnancy and childbirth in European Union law and Turkish Law

Due to women are human beings, they must benefit from human rights and fundamental freedoms. It should be ensured that in the case of pregnancy and childbirth related to the biological characteristics of women, any discrimination shouldn't be made which would cause disadvantage compared to men. In this respect, it is important to examine the developments in terms of non-discrimination due to pregnancy and childbirth. The thesis consists of three parts. In the first chapter the basic concepts related to the prohibition of discrimination and the principle of equality, the development processes of the prohibition of discrimination based on gender and the international documents on the subject are discussed. In the second chapter, the processes to prohibition of gender discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and childbirth, shaped and developed in line with the decisions of the European Court of Justice, which are regulated in the primary and secondary legal legislation of European Union Law, are examined. In the last section, the regulations on the prohibition of gender discrimination due to pregnancy and childbirth in the areas of Turkish Law to Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Labor Law and the legal, criminal and administrative sanctions envisaged in case of violation of the prohibition are examined.