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What is the Gender Equality Duty?
The Gender Equality Duty (GED) is the biggest change to sex legislation since the Sex Discrimination Act came into force. The GED will mean that public sector bodies in Scotland will have to take into account:
- The need to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment, including transsexual people
- The need to promote equality of opportunity between women and men
Why is the Duty important?
The Duty means that public bodies have a legal requirement to ensure that men and women, boys and girls are treated fairly, with the different needs of men and women being built into all public policies, practices and services. Some likely changes would be:
- Reducing the segregation of men and women into different jobs and closing the gender pay gap
- Equal access to health services for women and men
- Increasing safety and accessibility of public transport
Which public bodies are affected by the Duty?
All public authorities and some public service providers from the private and voluntary sectors.
How will the Gender Equality Duty be enforced?
- Gather information on how their work affects women and men.
- Consult employees, service users, trade unions and other stakeholders.
- Assess the different impact of policies and practices on women and men and use this information to inform their work.
- Identify priorities and set gender equality objectives.
- Plan and take action to achieve gender equality objectives.
- Publish a gender equality scheme, report annually and review progress every three years.
- Publish an equal pay statement (if they have 150+ staff) and report on progress every three years.
Equality Human Rights Commission
Useful links:
Equality Human Rights Commission
NHS Health Scotland
The Scottish Government
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