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.

If they want to include transgender (which they shouldn't as it's not what the law actually says) at the very least it should be gender reassignment (including transgender).

I would suggest writing to them in a non-aggressive way stating the protected characteristics are as detailed above with the link to the official website. I don't see how they can argue with that. They can't rewrite the law.

If we all do this every time we see it, we can make a difference

@HarrietTheFly thank you. I have subsequently been on the ACAS website and they have a template for organisations to use which states "sex (gender) so I suspect this will proliferate as more and more organisations use this template.

OK, out of the 32 Councils in Scotland on their websites, their Equality Policies or statements (when specifically listing the 9 protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 are broken down as:

15 state sex
11 don’t list the protected characteristics (not all mention the Act)
4 state sex/gender
2 state sex (formerly known as gender). Eh? That’s a new one to me

Within the 11, one says that they view their responsibilities as wide than the areas covered by present legislation and lists gender and trans identity but not sex.

Oh, wait, one lists “gender” as the protected characteristic- that is included in the 4 sex/gender figure.

we need a big campaign about this called Sex not Gender

I agree. I think it would get derailed by TRA's as hate-speech though, unfortunately. The Equality Act would back it up but they seem to think they are above the law regarding legislation and wording.

Policies get changed when people with big gobs shout the loudest. Hence Stonewall and co eroding the rights of women born as being of the female sex.

Companies are so nervous about being called out on social media that they discriminate against females in their grovelling attempts to be down with the trans community.

I have a question about gender reassignment as a protected characteristic. Does that mean someone with a GRC but does not include those who self-id?

And what does it mean in real terms? If, for example, a MTF trans has a GRC and they apply for a job which is specific to women ( security doing same-sex pat-down searches at airports, etc), could that person file a discrimination case against the employer if they felt they didn't get the job because of their gender reassignment?

I have a question about gender reassignment as a protected characteristic. Does that mean someone with a GRC but does not include those who self-id?

This is what the Equality Act 2010 says:

A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/7

So as soon as you 'propose to undergo' gender reassignment, you're covered. No further action required - just tell someone that's what you're doing, or even just decide in your own head.

Are under 18s covered by the gender reassignment clause too? I guess they are as the other protected characteristics would apply to them.

Under 18s are covered by the gender reassignment clause but, as I understand it, courts have ruled that when looking at whether someone is being discriminated against due to gender reassignment the correct class to compare them against is other people of their sex, not other people of the gender they are trying to assimilate in to. So a transboy would be discriminated against if they were not allowed to access a scheme set up to encourage girls into science that is available for other girls. Though provision also has to be made for them so they aren't forced to, for instance, change with girls if they are uncomfortable doing so.

I think it is urgent that these agencies be advised that they are in violation of law asap.

My youngest’s School has this totally wrong but I’m scared to say something .... I feel like posting a anon letter!

Send them a letter advising they are in violation of law with a copy of the EA.
What they do about it will tell you what you need to know.