Health and Social Care ASS071-1: Women and Workplace Discrimination

This report examines the issue of workplace discrimination faced by women, focusing on the legal aspects within the UK. It begins with an overview of gender disparity and relevant statistics, then delves into the various forms of discrimination, including direct, indirect, harassment, and victimization, as defined by the Equality Act 2010. The report provides examples of each type of discrimination and discusses relevant case laws to illustrate how these laws are applied in practice. It explores the historical context of legislation, such as the Sexual Discrimination Act 1975, and the evolution of legal protections. The analysis covers the government's efforts to combat prejudice, the legal liabilities of employers, and the importance of identifying every form of discrimination. The report emphasizes the impact of discrimination on employees and the importance of treating all individuals with respect. The conclusion summarizes the discussion, highlighting the steps taken by the UK government and the ongoing challenges in eradicating sexual discrimination from the workplace.

Running head: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE ASS071-1
DISCRIMINATION FACED BY WOMEN
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

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Abstract
As per the report published in 2018, there were more than 66 million people in the United
Kingdom with 33.65 million women and 32.79 million men (UK: Population women and men |
Statista, 2020). Numerous economists observe that the main discrepancies which occur between
individuals on account of gender are sexism or gender disparity. The subject covers several
topics from education to fair work and income opportunities. In reaction to the issues that arise,
the government has enacted numerous laws, mainly based on sex discrimination, on institutional
as well as personal at work. This article aims to elaborate and identify the grounds of general
discrimination which mainly faced by women frequently at the workplace through reviewing
legislation and case laws in this regard.

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Introduction
The modern workforce is made up of people with diverse backgrounds who have various
experiences of life. Although diversity is good in the working atmosphere, it also raises the
probability of discrimination at work. This is still a part of the current business world, however,
to combat prejudice in the workplace several measures have been taken by the government.
Discrimination is considered to be as the privilege of a certain group of individuals over other
persons. In the UK, when an employee treated unfairly in the workplace based on sex, race,
caste, creed, religion, age, colour, sexual orientation, religious belief, disability both mental and
physical then it is called discrimination. In 2010, the Equality Act was enacted in the UK to
protect the rights and interests of the employees from discrimination which brought several
changes in the workplace laws relating to discrimination (Baert 2018). This paper mainly focuses
on the discussion of sexual discrimination faced by women in the workplace with the support of
appropriate legislation and case laws. While discussing the same, it also sheds light on several
steps which have been taken by the UK government to prohibit discrimination from the
workplace.
Discussion
Numerous researchers have been observed that sexual discrimination is difficult to trace
out in the organization. Especially when it is not obvious whether it is going on within the
organization or not. If a person is treated differently because he or she is a man or a woman, then
it is called as sexual discrimination. Both men and women treated unfairly within the workplace.
Even a man can also gain favourable treatment from his employer based on sex. The same thing
also has been observed in the case of the female employee but various statistics in this regard

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shows that women are discriminated more than men in the workplace. The practice of sexual
discrimination in the workplace is illegal and it is held the employer liable (Tariq and Syed
2017).
As it is discussed previously, the primary legislation concerning discrimination is the
Equality act of 2010. All individuals whether men or women have been protected from sexual
discrimination in the workplace by the provisions of this Act.
Before the enactment of the above-mentioned Act, all male and female employees were
protected from discrimination based on sex or marital status in the workplace by the Sexual
Discrimination Act, 1975. However, this old Act has been repealed by the Equality Act of 2010.
Specifically, this Act forbids discrimination because of a person:
 Is or is not of specific sex;
 Is assumed to be of the opposite sex, which is also known as discrimination by
perception;
 Is related to somebody of a specific sex, which is known as discrimination by association.
The act describes ‘sex’ as male or female and as a category of people, including boys,
men, girls or women. Under the employment law, sexual discrimination is considered to be as a
big issue, and there exist various forms of discrimination which can occur within the workplace.
It has been said by several researchers that to remove discrimination from the workplace
completely and efficiently, it is vital to identify every form of discrimination crucially (Wing‐
Fai, Gill and Randle 2015).

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As per the Equality Act of 2010, mainly four types of discrimination has been observed
in the workplace which includes the following, such as:
i) Direct sex discrimination
The most common and easily identifiable sex discrimination is direct sex discrimination.
Direct discrimination takes place within an organization when an individual is handled in a
similar position worse than anyone else because of his or her sex. Publication of advertisement
for a job is such a situation where a person can be discriminated directly. For example, a
salesperson’s job advertisement denotes that the role is better for a male than for a female.
However, there is an exception to this widely accepted rule. There exist some situations where
selecting specific sex is permissible. For instances, armed forces can reject a female to hire to
guarantee combat effectiveness. Dissimilar events can be arranged for men and women by
competitive sports based on strength, stamina and physique (England 2017).
It is necessary to remember that if any of the above three conditions set out in the
Equality Act are met there is direct discrimination. In other words, it can happen if someone is
less favoured due to their perceived sex or their affiliation. In James vs. Eastleigh Borough
Council [1990] IRLR 288 HL case at the time of paying an entrance fee to the swimming pool,
a man who had not met state pension age alleged overt discrimination against sex; his partner,
who had attained pension age, did not. It has been held by the court that it must not be shown by
complainants that the arbitrary explanation for their less favourable treatment was because of
their sex.

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ii) Indirect discrimination
Indirect discrimination happens when a single group is negatively impacted by
employment law or procedure. Generally, when the policy is common to all workers, it might
sound fair, but that does not always happen. For example, as per the advertisement the work
position that requires the worker to be six foot tall. This excludes the possibilities of several
women. However, there are also some exceptions to this general rule where discrimination is
lawful. For instance, recruitment of a woman guard for a female changing room in a gym is an
example of indirect discrimination (Colvin 2015).
In the case of indirect discrimination, it must be kept in mind by an employee that it can
be challenged by an employee only when a procedure or rule only if concerns himself. If they
show it is unfair, yet, they must demonstrate that those with similar protected characteristics are
disadvantaged. The London Underground Limited v Edwards (No 2) [1998] IRLR 364 case
is a famous case of indirect sexual discrimination case where the court gave the judgment in
favour of the plaintiff as the roistering system of the workplace affects the employee.
iii) Harassment
Discrimination on the ground of sexual harassment can be divided into three groups:
i) Unwanted conduct involving the sex of an individual. The effect is an anguishing,
degrading, or violent working environment. For instance, a woman is subject by
coworkers around the workplace to a variety of offensive sex jokes;
ii) Unwanted sexual behaviour which is commonly referred to as sexual assault. A senior
executive proposes promotional news to a junior employee if she sleeps with him;

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iii) Unfavourable treatment towards those employees who are4 the victims of sexual assault.
An employee left her employer as she subsequently asked but was declined for the
promotion (Sommerlad and Sanderson 2019).
In STU vs. JKL (Qld) Pty Ltd [2016] QCAT 505 case the employer arranged a share-
work process between the plaintiff and defendant, and one morning the plaintiff found the
defendant at naked. Due to this incident, the employee suffered from the post-traumatic stress
disorder. The tribunal held personal injury suffered by the victim due to sexual harassment.
iv) Victimization
The last form is relevant when an employee’s complaint or complaint about
discrimination against sex is not being dealt with favourably. If the employee is denied for
promotion, fired, or exposed to inappropriate behaviour after this, then victimization may be
considered to be taken place (Henry 2017).
An employee must not be humiliated just because of making a complaint about sex
discrimination. It means an employer should not be unfairly punished simply because a
complaint has been made by an employee. In case of making a complaint, the complainant needs
to go to a court, tribunal or other appropriate places for filing a case. The Equality Act of 2010
protects those employees who made complaints about sexual discrimination. Even, if an
employee can help his or her coworkers in this regard or provide a statement as a witness then
also can get protection from the appropriate authority (Wilson 2016).
Apart from that, there are is another type of discrimination observed. The Equality Act of
2010, also regulates discrimination based on gender in the UK. They say the same thing under

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legal terms. However, there is a distinction between the two in broader terms. Nevertheless, ‘sex’
also refers to the biological characteristics of an individual. Both terms are used interchangeably.
On the other hand, the word gender applies to social roles based on gender or personal identity.
Because of discrimination based on sex reassignment, this distinction is significant. It is a
covered provider under the Equality Act 2010 (Davidson, Mand Burke, R.J., 2016).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that the malpractice of sexual
discrimination creates a distance among the employees. All individuals must be treated with
proper respect. Sexual discrimination also breaks the unity of the employees which also affects
the productivity of the organization. The government of the UK takes several steps to remove
this malpractice from every workplace situated in the UK and for this purpose enacts various
legislation. Despite that, it is not possible to remove this system entirely from the workplace.

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Reference
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Colvin, R., 2015. Shared workplace experiences of lesbian and gay police officers in the United
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Henry, M., 2017. Ivory towers and ebony women: The experiences of black women in higher
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Sommerlad, H. and Sanderson, P., 2019. Gender, choice and commitment: Women solicitors in
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[Accessed 20 April 2020].
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