Gender
Equality Duty
The Equality
Act 2006 established a Gender Equality Duty (GED) which places a statutory
duty on public bodies* to have due regard to the need to:
- eliminate
discrimination and harassment that is unlawful under the Sex Discrimination
Act 1975, and discrimination that is unlawful under the Equal Pay
Act 1970
- promote
equality of opportunity between men and women
The
GED came into effect on 30th April 2007 in England, Scotland
and Wales. Similar legislation came into effect in N. Ireland on 1st
January 2007.
*in the
context of the GED, any organisation which carries out functions of
a public nature is included in the definition of a public authority
(thereby including General Practices); such organisations are required
to conform to the 'general duty'. Many public bodies (including Primary
Care Organisations) are required to conform to more onerous 'specific
duties'.
What
are the implications for Practices of conforming to the 'general duty'?
To conform
to the 'general duty' Practices must (in both service provision and
in their employment procedures) have regard to the elimination of
unlawful discrimination and harassment, and the promotion of equality
of opportunity between men and women. This may be achieved through
the existence and enforcement of the following:
- an
Equal Opportunities/Anti-Discrimination (Employment) Policy
- a
Bullying and Harassment Policy
- an
Equal Opportunities/Anti-Discrimination (Service Provision) Policy
Downloadable
drafts of these three policies are in the Members
Library - go there.
Subscribers
to the Members section
of this website will find more details about discrimination in employment
in the Discrimination Zone - go
there.
Read an article on the GED written for FPM by 
Discrimination legislation main page
Further
information
Equality
and Human Rights Commission information on the
Gender Equality Duty
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