Spanish court rules skirts discriminatory

The Spanish Supreme Court ruled that nurses cannot be forced to wear skirts in health centers but may choose to wear pajama-style scrubs, officials said. A Spanish judge said the obligation for nurses to wear skirts by organizations was unconstitutional and discriminatory, which he called "unjustifiable objectivity," El Pais reported Friday. The verdict was passed after complaints of the "skirt rule" were filed by female nurses against Clinicas Pascual, an Andalucia company. The Clinica San Rafael in Cadiz also used to enforce the policy that led to protests in the streets. The judge said the rule that women had to wear skirts "projected to the outside world a determined image of differences between men and women." He added that such an obligation affected the dignity and privacy of the female members of the staff. The ruling comes three years after nurses began campaigning against the company policy.