What is the gender equality duty? 

On this page

• The need for a gender equality duty
  
• The difference it will make to the general public
  
• What the public authorities will have to do
  
• How public authorities will fulfil their goals
  
• The benefits for public authorities and organisations covered by the duty
  

The need for a gender equality duty

30 years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act [SDA], there is still discrimination. The rights of individuals do not oblige organisations to promote equality. The GED will bring about real change in the culture of organisations as the onus will be on organisations to promote equality, rather than on individuals to highlight discrimination

The difference it will make to the general public

The gender equality duty should mean that women and men get services that mean their needs more closely.  For example, you may recognise these situations from your own experience:

• Men are less likely than women to visit their GP, which means that they often seek treatment late in an illness. This is bad for their health and wellbeing, and costs the NHS more in the long run. For example, although women are more susceptible to lung cancer, more men die of the disease because they seek help late.

The Gender Equality Duty could see GPs improving the way they provide services to men, possibly by targeting men and providing drop-in clinics at sporting events or workplaces.

• Women use public transport in different ways and for different reasons than men.  They are more likely to need to access healthcare, childcare and food shopping as well as going to work. Unfortunately, transport services and town planning rarely recognise this, as routes are often aimed at commuters. They don't always provide easy access to transport for those carrying children or pushchairs, or recognise that women have a greater fear of travelling at night.

What the public authorities will have to do

Public service providers and public sector employers will have to think about policies they develop and the services they deliver with the different needs of women and men in mind.  Public service providers will need to look at who uses their services, and ask questions like:

• What are the different issues and priorities for women and men who use the services we provide?

For example, during housing distribution, a man may be allocated a one bedroom house, without consideration being given to the fact he looks after his two children every weekend.

• Do they have different requirements and needs to be met by our service?

For example, women and men fear different types of crime.  Women fear rape, mugging and physical attack more than men do.  Yet more resources are directed at combatting crimes which men fear than those which women fear.  This is particularly apparent in the case of sexual assault and rape.

• Will women or men be put off using a service because of lack of childcare or an unsafe or unwelcoming environment? 

For example, if a young mother attends college on a plumbing course, she may not be able to take the course if the childcare at the college does not open until 9am, but her course starts at 8am.  The college may not have taken into account the needs of students with caring responsibilities, particularly in this case as plumbing is likely to be a male dominated course.  This could also affect men, as they too may benefit from the childcare facilities.

• Are there some services which are more effectively delivered as women-only or men-only?

If there is enough evidence to show that services are needed for men-only or women-only.  It will still be legal to provide single sex services, where there is a clear need to preserve decency or privacy, such as a women's refuge.

Public authorities will also have to look at their employment policies to see how they affect women and men.  Some gender issues they may have to think about are:

• Is there a pay gap between men and women doing the same job or jobs of similar value?
• How could flexible working help staff and how will it benefit men and women?
• How do we recruit staff and are we likely to get a good gender balance of candidates?
• Do we have a gender imbalance?  If so, how could we try and rectify the situation?
• Do we have a good return rate from maternity leave?  If not, why and how can we improve?

Public authorities will also need to look at how their employment policies affect transsexual men and women.  Some issues they may have to think about are:

• Do your Equal Opportunities policy and harassment policy cover trans people?
• Do your practices and procedures support the dignity and privacy of trans people? 

For instance, when your organisation requests identification from employees, does it restrict it to items such as birth certificates.  If so, a transgender person may have to inadvertently reveal their original sex to you against their wishes as they may not have been able to obtain a corrected birth certificate.  

• Do you have a policy on supporting employees who are undergoing gender reassignment?

For example, do you have a system to support existing staff who intend to "transition" whilst at work?  Have you thought about the issues this could raise? 

• Do you encourage job applications from the trans community?

For instance, have you got policies and procedures that would put obstacles in the path of prospective employees who may want to work for you?

How public authorities will fulfil their goals

Most major public authorities will have to follow a series of steps known as 'specific duties'. This includes setting their own  gender equality goals and consulting their service users, customers and employees.  They will then have to re-design or tweak services to make sure that they achieve the goals.  

For example:  A local primary care trust may have a goal to 'decrease the number of fatal incidences of Coronary Heart Disease'.  In order to achieve this goal, it should take into account the differences between men and women, and set out the actions it will take to address those differences.

Men typically develop heart disease ten years earlier than women, but they are less likely to visit their GP. To ensure that prevention work is effective, the trust should  look at their current service and to see how they could specifically target men, educate them about the risks at an early age, and set up a means of early diagnosis of the disease.  By setting up medical units at football or rugby matches   which have a high concentration of men in attendance, the health trust will have set a goal and taken action to achieve the goal.

Women, on the other hand, often underestimate the risk of heart disease. Although most women believe that breast cancer is the most pressing health worry, heart disease is a greater risk, causing some 20,000 deaths in the UK every year. Tests for coronary heart disease (CHD) are designed to be performed on men - yet the symptoms in men and women are different. Local action needs to be taken to make women aware of the risk of heart disease, and to make healthcare professionals aware of the different symptoms experienced by women.

The gender equality goals and plan to tackle them are known as an action plan.  Major public authorities will have to have an action plan.   

The benefits for public authorities and organisations covered by the duty

Any successful business strives to satisfy customers and retain good staff.  By taking gender into consideration you could:

On services:

• Understand what women and men really need from your services
• Improve customer satisfaction by tailoring services to actual needs
• Better quality and more cost effective services
• More effective targeting of resources
• Improved service means fewer complaints and potentially more profit
• Less time dealing with complaints leaves staff more time to deal with core responsibilities
• More time working on core activity means higher efficiency

On employment: 

• Improve recruitment. Considering gender could help you fill the skill gaps you may have
• Flexible working and improving the work-life balance means happier staff and higher staff retention
• Equal pay for like jobs will prevent costly tribunal cases
• Action on maternity leave will increase staff returning saving you money on recruitment
• More efficient use of talent in the workforce By complying as a private sector business or voluntary/charity organisation, you will be able to tender for contracts with public sector authorities.