Equality policies no longer listing “sex” as a protected characteristic

[GoldHat]

Evening all,

Today I noticed in one of the handouts given to me on my course, under the Equality and Diversity statement for the awarding body, the following statement, which listed on what grounds they oppose discrimination:

“The purpose of this policy is to set out our commitment to ensuring we adhere to legislation and regulation requirements. We fully support the principle of equal opportunities and oppose all unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of ability, age, colour, culture, disability, domestic circumstances, employment status, gender, marital/civil partnership status, nationality, political orientation, racial origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, social background or any other grounds or status.”

I noticed there was no mention of “sex” so went to legislation.gov.uk ( www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/4) and found the following nine characteristics:

The protected characteristics
The following characteristics are protected characteristics—

•   age; 
  

•   disability; 
  

•   gender reassignment; 
  

•   marriage and civil partnership; 
  

•   pregnancy and maternity; 
  

•   race; 
  

•   religion or belief; 
  

•   sex; 
  

•   sexual orientation. 
  

As you can see sex is on there, but the policy of the awarding body does not list sex as a protected characteristic.

I then looked at the Equality and Diversity policy for the centre where I am completing my course and on there, they have the following statement:

“The Equality Act 2010 introduces the term “protected characteristic” to refer to aspects of a person’s identity explicitly protected from discrimination. Nine are identified and they are Race, Disability, Gender, Age, Sexual orientation, Religion and belief, Gender reassignment, Pregnancy / maternity, Marriage / civil partnership. The protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership is not included in the education duties of the Act.”

Again, sex is not listed as a protected characteristic.

I have then looked at the school policy my child attends and their equality policy says the following:

“XXXXXX School seeks to ensure that no member of the school community or any person through their contact with the school are discriminated by any of the following characteristics:
Age
Disability
Gender Reassignment
Marriage and Civil Partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Gender
Sexual orientation
(Taken from ‘Protected Characteristics’ (Equality Act 2010)”

Again they have listed the nine characteristics in the same sequence and word for word as the list on legislation.gov.uk; except when it comes to the 8th characteristic on their list, which is listed as “gender” whereas the Equality Act 2010 uses the word “sex.” So it would appear the change from sex to gender was a deliberate change.

So that’s 3 separate policies of that have replaced the word “sex” with the word “gender” which I have found within the space of 30mins.

I should think there are many other business and companies and schools with similar changes, where the protected characteristic “sex” has been deleted and replaced by the word “gender.”

I must admit seeing them delete the word “sex” and use gender instead is really annoying me, to the point I have contacted them to query their policy and I have been asked to email them my concerns.

Am I right to be annoyed by this? Or are companies and businesses and institutions allowed to do this and refer to sex as gender?

Thoughts please. Thanks.

My local council changed theirs too, when pointed it out.

It’s very satisfying to do, though frustrating we are having to insist that public bodies use the legal definition as it is stated in law.

Organisations aren't just taking Stonewall's word for it though, are they? In some cases at least, they're paying Stonewall for the privilege of having the law misrepresented to them.

I got one of my employers’ equality policy changed back to reflect ‘sex‘ and ‘gender reassignment’ ...which they had replaced with made-up ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender’ categories. They couldn’t really argue. The law’s the law.

Great to hear some are changing their policies to reflect the true protected characteristics, as opposed to made up ones.

Here’s the statement on my council’s equality objective policy:
The Equality Act 2010 introduces the term “protected characteristic” to refer to aspects of a person’s identity explicitly protected from discrimination. Nine are identified and they are Race, Disability, Gender, Age, Sexual orientation, Religion and belief, Gender reassignment, Pregnancy / maternity, Marriage / civil partnership.

Is it best to call the relevant organisation or send email/letter?

I did it by email, copying in my local councillor. Better to have a paper trail.

I've just checked my DD's primary school's equality policy. It states the Equalities act of 2010 lists 9 characteristics, and states gender (and not sex), as Goldhat said above. Is there a stock email that I could copy to send to the school? I am not very good at formulating wording.

An issue in tech is "contributor covenants" and "codes of conduct" that omit sex. www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct has "sexual characteristics" but not "sex", and I've seen derivatives of this that have "sexual characteristics" omitted, such as that used by Google. British organisations are copying these CoCs verbatim without modifying them to reflect the EA2010.

I suggest copying and linking the relevant section of the EA when you advise them they are in violation of the EA2010.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/4

"The school acknowledges the difference between gender and sex, and will regard both as protected characteristics."
Boldly stating their intention to violate the law? Criminy!

What I find worrying, is the suggestion by the Women and Equalities Select Committee among many, is the suggestion that the occupational requirements provision be done away with. Schools routinely, and quite legally, advertise for women PE teachers to teach girls' PE. This is important because the teacher needs to be able to enter the changing room in cases such as medical emergency. I'm sure no one here needs me to spell out the potential consequences of removing occupational requirements exemptions.

I've just checked my dd's school and they have an interesting variation.
They have all 9 correctly but after sex they have 'including transgender'

Sex (including transgender)

So according to them Transgender is a sex.

I would suggest something along the lines of

Re. the nine protected characteristics listed in your equality policy, please be aware that they are:
age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act/protected-characteristics

ie. it should say sex, not gender. Although these terms used to be interchangeable, given the current debate I'm sure we agree that it is important that the school's document accurately reflects the law so that there is no ambiguity.

Sex (including transgender)

Are they for real? They can't just 'update' the law on a whim.

Suggest you use/modify the Fair Play template on the Small Acts of Rebellion thread I've just bumped. It's good as notes the EAct but also that omitting sex may deter people from accessing their rights etc. It reads clearly and unarguably and seems to have worked for the half dozen I've sent to NHS Trusts. Shame we can't organise to check localities and email systematically... I like to dream

Here is ours (I don’t mind people knowing my location- have posted it before!)

You will see that they list: sex (gender)

And have swallowed the Stonewall Kool-aid.

In fact, look at the whole thing which has a real Stonewall emphasis

www.westlothian.gov.uk/equality

Wonder what will happen when I ask them to remove “gender” from the sex protected category...

Skills Development Scotland had replaced sex with gender identity and when I emailed them they said that:

“We have accessed guidance from Stonewall Scotland and the Scottish Trans Alliance in using gender identity, which is perceived to be a more inclusive term than sex which is binary.”

However I checked this morning and sex as been reinstated! So pleased, but why should Stonewall and STA be allowed to misrepresent the law in this way?!

I've just been on my local council website and it states "sex/gender" as the protected characteristic- how would I challenge that?

Just checked my council and they have ‘sex - a man or a woman’ , as the characteristic.

Need to formulate an email to the school now....

Thanks TimeLady - I’ll probably email your simple suggestion to my DD’s primary school (and I’m sure secondary school too as it’s the same Academy), and see what they come back with ......

@OhamIreally

I'd say something like,

Dear council,

I have noticed an error on the council's equality policy (link to page). Under protected characteristics "sex/gender" is listed. The protected characteristics as recorded in the Equalities Act 2010 are: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity. (Link to act).

While often used interchangeably, sex and gender do not have the same meaning. From the WHO website (link): "Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male."
"Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed."

Gender does not have the same meaning as sex and it is not a protected quality under the act.

Sorry...that's not great and I have no ending to the letter . I'm sure someone else can do a better job! And I wanted to end with something like "I hope to see the page amended soon to reflect the actual law". But in a better way that didn't sound rude and I couldn't think of anything.

Just checked my ds's primary and it also lists "sex (including transgender)" as a category.

@Iggypoppie there are what, 30 odd Councils in Scotland? I think I’ll have a look and see how each one presents their Equality Policy

Just checked my ds's primary and it also lists "sex (including transgender)" as a category.

I would suggest:

Re. the nine protected characteristics listed in your equality policy, please be aware that they are:
age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act/protected-characteristics

ie. it should say sex, not sex (including transgender). Given the current debate I'm sure we agree that it is important that the school's document accurately reflects the law so that there is no ambiguity.

My DD’s school lists ‘sex (including issues of transgender)’ as a protected characteristic in their equality policy. What does that even mean?

In the draft impact assessment for the current consultation in Wales about making the new RSE curriculum (including teaching about gender identity) compulsory for all children, they have all the protected characteristics listed correctly apart from one. Instead of sex, they have sex/gender.

gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2019-10/integrated-impact-assessment-ensuring-access-to-the-full-curriculum.pdf

Link to consultation. It's open until 28th November.
gov.wales/ensuring-access-full-curriculum