What is the gender equality duty?
The Equality Act 2006 amends the Sex Discrimination Act to place a statutory duty on all public authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need: • to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment • to promote equality of opportunity between men and women. This is known as the ‘general duty and came into effect on 6 April 2007. The duty applies to public authorities in respect of all of their functions. This means it applies to policy-making, service provision, employment matters, and in relation to enforcement or any statutory discretion and decision-making. It also applies to a public authority in relation to services and functions which are contracted out. It also applies to private and voluntary bodies.
