Gender
- Overview
- Gender Equality Scheme
- Work and Family (maternity, paternity & flexible working)
- The Athena SWAN (Scientific Women Academics' Network) Charter
- Maternity/Paternity Careers Coaching
- Useful links
Overview
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA) and the Equal Pay Act 1970 (EPA) currently provide a right to redress to individuals (male and female) once discrimination has taken place. The SDA makes it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sex. Specifically, sex discrimination is not allowed in employment, education, advertising or when providing housing, goods, services or facilities. It is unlawful to discriminate because someone is married, in employment or advertisements for jobs. It is also unlawful to discriminate in the employment field on the grounds of gender reassignment, or pregnancy and maternity. Harassment in employment, vocational training and further education is also specifically prohibited. The EPA says women must be paid the same as men when they are doing equal work and vice-versa.
The duty to promote gender equality
The Equality Act 2006 introduced the Gender Equality Duty, which comes into force on 6th April 2007 and places more responsibility with service providers to think strategically about gender equality (as is currently the case with race and disability legislation), rather than leaving it to individuals to challenge poor practice.
The general duty requires the University, when carrying out our functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment and to promote equality of opportunity between men and women. This duty is enforceable by judicial review. As part of the duty, we are also required to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment in employment and vocational training (including further and higher education) for people who intend to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment. The general duty is enforceable by judicial review. From late 2007 the CEHR will have the power to conduct formal assessments and to issue compliance notices in connection with a breach of the general duty which will be enforceable in the courts.
Specific duties were introduced from April 2007 requiring the University to:
- Prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme ¹ by 30th April 2007, showing how we will meet our general and specific duties and setting out our gender equality objectives.
- Consider the need to include objectives to address the causes of any gender pay gap.
- Gather and use information on how our policies and practices affect gender equality in the workforce and in the delivery of services.
- Consult stakeholders (i.e. employees, service users and others, including trade unions) and take account of relevant information in order to determine our gender equality objectives.
- Assess the impact of our current and proposed policies and practices on gender equality.
- Implement the actions set out in our scheme within three years, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so.
- Report against the scheme every year and review the scheme at least every three years.
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights has the power to issue compliance notices in respect of the specific duties. Since the legislation is outcome-focused, the University will have the legal responsibility to demonstrate that we treat women and men equally in policy-making, services, education (teaching, learning and research) and employment.
(Please note that, as of October 2007, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights superceded the old Equal Opportunities Commission. See our Latest News section for more information.)
¹ The Statutory Code of Practice defines a Gender Equality Scheme as a scheme put in place by a public authority which sets out their gender equality goals, priorities or objectives. It includes tasks, timeframes, and who is accountable for delivering each area.