It’s been described as the biggest change to sex discrimination law for 30 years – and it came into force last Friday.
The Gender Equality Duty places the onus on public authorities to promote sex equality and end sex discrimination – and effective plans to achieve this must be in place by the end of this month.
According to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), policies that seem neutral can have a significantly different effect on men and women. For instance, transport services are often designed with the needs of commuters in mind, who are typically male. Yet women, who have less access to private cars than men and often want to make ‘cross town’ journeys, are the main users of public transport.
Men are also disadvantaged by workplace cultures that do not support their family or childcare responsibilities; by family services that assume they have little or no role in parenting; or by health services, which do not recognise their different needs. Men are half as likely to visit their GP, which often leads to late diagnosis and complications.
EOC chairman Jenny Watson said: “The Gender Equality Duty is the biggest change to sex equality legislation in 30 years and has the potential to transform our public services. But there is no room for complacency about sex equality if this transformation is to become reality.
“Leaders in our public services must use it to deliver services and employment practices that work equally well for women and men. This means a shift away from a one-size fits all approach to services to one, which puts the individual at the heart of the service, and does so through recognising the very different needs of men and women, using public money more wisely as a result.
“It also means a major shift in employment practice across the public sector, tackling the barriers that prevent women from getting to the top such as lack of flexibility and ensuring that all areas of work are opened up to both sexes, bringing more men into professions such as primary school teaching, nursing and childcare.”
Areas where the Gender Equality Duty can make a difference include:
- Pensions – the current state system has been designed around the working patterns of earlier generations of men – continuous full-time work for 40 years – without breaks for children. As a result, it has served women poorly and is increasingly becoming less relevant to men’s lives.
- Transport – women can be disadvantages by limited access for pushchairs and fares that leave part-time workers out of pocket.
- Education – boys are lower achievers than girls in literacy and language but many girls are still being funnelled into career choices that lead to low-paid, low-status jobs.
