Gender Advisory Bureau

What is the Gender Equality Duty?

The Gender Equality Duty [GED] (or the general duty) came into force on the April 2007. It requires public authorities to promote equality between women and men and eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harrassment. This means the public sector will have to develop policies, design services and have employment practices with the different needs of women and men in mind.

When did the duty come into force?

The gender equality duty came into force on 6^th April 2007. Gender Equality Schemes should have been in place by 30^th April 2007.

Why does the gender equality duty only cover transsexual people in relation to employment and vocational training?
The gender equality duty was limited by existing UK law which protects transsexual people from discrimination in work and vocational training (including higher and further education) but not in regards to goods, facilities and services. A 1999 European Court of Justice case ruled that it was unlawful to discriminate in employment.

The law protecting transsexual people against discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services has now been changed (April 6th 2008) SEE RESOURCES AND FREEBIES PAGE FOR THE LINK TO THE LEGISLATION

The Equalities Review Published Feb. 2007.
Fairness and Freedom: The Final Report of the Equalities Review Published 28th Feb 07
http://www.theequalitiesreview.org.uk/

We would recommend that any services should view this document in its entirety themselves however a quote from this important document is as follows:

"An equal society protects and promotes equal, real freedom and substantive opportunity to
live in the ways people value and would choose, so that everyone can flourish.
An equal society recognises people’s different needs, situations and goals, and removes the
barriers that limit what people can do and can be..........despite a strong public value of fairness and equality, prejudice persists. This has serious
negative consequences for the treatment of women, people of different ages, ethnic minorities,
disabled people, people with particular beliefs, transgender people, and lesbian and gay people......"

This document highlights the seven strands of diversity, including transgender, previously mentioned in the Equalities Act 2006 (then the wording was proposed, commenced or completed reassignment of gender (within
the meaning given by section 82(1) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975
(c. 65)),

The first part of the Equality Act came into force 1st October 2010 (Taken from the Equality and Human Rights Newsletter issue 24): "The vast majority of the Equality Act's provisions will come into force today. This landmark legislation strengthens, harmonises and streamlines 40 years of equality legislation, providing protection from discrimination across all the ‘protected characteristics’: age, disability, sex (including gender reassignment), race, religion and belief, and sexual orientation. The Equality Act affects you as an employer and service provider and applies whatever the size of your organisation or sector you work in.
Most of the Employment, Services and Education parts of the Act come into force on 1 October and the Public Sector Equality Duty provisions are planned to come into force in April 2011.

See their own website for further details:http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/legal-andpolicy/equality-act/