The Solicitors Regulatory Authority doesn’t understand the Equality Act

[SlipperyLizard]

Seen this on Twitter and am appalled (hope the link works).

The SRA will be asking solicitors to confirm which “gender do you identify with” and asking no questions about sex. Answers are “man” “woman” “other preferred description” or “prefer not to say”.

They say it is to be “inclusive” but many have rightly pointed out that it doesn’t include those of us who don’t have a gender identity. Oh, and of course it is not “gender identity” which is a protected characteristic.

twitter.com/ejvw100/status/1118042196899397632?s=21

It's also explicitly against EHRC guidelines, though. I think?

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/our-statement-sex-and-gender-reassignment-legal-protections-and-language

^"In UK law, ‘sex’ is understood as binary, with a person’s legal sex being determined by what is recorded on their birth certificate […] 'Gender’ refers to socially constructed roles of women and men and/or an individual’s conception of their identity. The term is often used interchangeably with ‘sex’ […] This may cause confusion in some circumstances. […] it is important to note that any mistaken or structural use of the term gender does not affect how the law works in practice."

The SRA are not just advising but compelling employers - solicitors' firms - to drop their monitoring of a protected characteristic. Surely all female solicitors are being directly discriminated against, at work, by this?

Thanks. My firm doesn't usually bother me with rubbish like that so I won't have a chance to subvert it!

"amoregentlemanlikemanner no the surveys are distributed to all individual staff members by the firm and everyone is asked to answer anonymously. The data is then sent back to the SRA by the firm."

Thanks Rollercoasteryears.

This has now been the subject of an article in Roll on Friday and the Law Gazette...

www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/sra-slammed-erasing-sex-its-inclusive-diversity-survey

www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sra-defends-omitting-sex-from-inclusive-diversity-questions/5070027.article

This from a body like the SRA is troubling. If they don't understand the EA who does?

I thought solicitors were careful about language to the point of being pedantic.

Switching for ‘sex’ to ‘gender ‘ because they wanted to be inclusive?

Especially when it means they can no longer measure pay gaps and other potential indicators of sexual discrimination.

Very odd.