The Sex Discrimination Act 1975: The End of a Decade

Atkins, Susan

doi:10.1057/fr.1986.31

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In the case of sex equality the issue of policy scope is vital. The type of discrimination which has a profound effect on women and, as Atkins (1986) writes, shapes their relationships to the state, employers and administrations such as the Department of Health and Social Security (now reorganized as the Department of Health and the Department of Social Security), the NHS and social services departments is outside the scope of the legislation. The EOC as it is currently constituted has no power to analyse sexist provisions in these areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But although the CRE is convinced that the strong use of enforcement powers is essential, both requests for assistance and the actual number of cases account for only a small number of known complaints. With such a large number of potential discriminators there are enormous problems of policing the legislation (Atkins 1986). And matters are not helped by the lack of availability of legal aid.…”

Section: Litigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often they are the result of past decisions made in a different socio-economic climate. The longevity of such practices and their general acceptability mean that their discriminatory effects are not considered (Atkins 1986). It is such practices that the concept of indirect discrimination was devised to identhy and eliminate.…”

Section: Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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IMPLEMENTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 1980s: AN OVERVIEW

Lovenduski

1989

Public Administration

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Although it is over ten years since major legislation was enacted, equal opportunities remains a controversial issue in Britain. This has affected its implementation in a variety of ways. The article reviews arguments over the meaning of equal opportunities policy, its meaning in the British case and the way it is affected by the British conception of rights. Consideration is given to the experience of implementation by the relevant administrative agencies and local authorities. Particular attention is paid to the area of training. A concluding discussion suggests that market forces may provide the impetus for new developments in the implementation of British equality policy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Litigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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IMPLEMENTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 1980s: AN OVERVIEW

Lovenduski

1989

Public Administration

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“…Others have looked specifically at the SDA (see, for example, Atkins, 1986;Homans, 2015). While a 1986 Feminist Review survey of the law ten years on claimed, 'the history of the [SDA] is now well documented', including the 'hopes and fears' of those who campaigned for it (Atkins, 1986), in fact, the story of how it was largely produced by and for a white feminist political project remains largely untold.…”

Section: The Sda: Reserved (White) Feminist Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

The whiteness of ‘sex discrimination’: theorising white feminist ideology in politics

Christoffersen

2024

European Journal of Politics and Gender

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The year 2025 will mark 50 years since the prohibition of gender discrimination in employment in Europe. Feminist narratives of this time have often been ones of progress, despite Black feminist critique of how such legislation effaced racially minoritised women’s experiences. Why was gender equality legislation designed to mainly benefit white privileged women? What discourses were involved? Meanwhile, while the term ‘white feminism’ has recently been popularised, there has been relatively little investigation of what it comprises in politics in Europe. Drawing on cross-disciplinary empirical research on UK gender equality legislation involving analysis of parliamentary debate, archival research and oral history, this article contributes to theorisation of the tenets of white feminism, namely, as a political ideology wherein gender is constructed as the most important marker of social inequality and, specifically, as being more important than racial inequality. Ultimately, such specification aims to make white feminism in politics impossible to render neutral.

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“…Further issues relate to the technical characteristics and scope of equal pay law. For example, the individual nature of the remedy puts considerable pressure on workers and makes bringing larger claims on behalf of classes of employees practically and legally onerous and off-putting (Atkins 1986;Fredman 2008). 56 Many commentators have also raised significant concerns about the limitations of the requirement for an actual comparator (Fredman 2008;Rubery and Koukiadaki 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Decertifying Gender: The Challenge of Equal Pay

Grabham

2023

Fem Leg Stud

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Abstract‘The Future of Legal Gender’ project has assessed the potential implications for feminist legal scholarship and activism of decertifying sex/gender. Decertification refers to the state moving away from officially determining or registering sex/gender. This article explores the potential impact of such moves on equal pay law and gender pay gap reporting. Equal pay and gender pay gap reporting laws provide an important focus for the project because they aim to address structural dynamics associated with persistent pay inequality that women experience across occupations in the United Kingdom. These legal measures illuminate gendering as a large-scale social problem widely understood to operate structurally and systemically. What effect, then, could decertifying sex/gender have on the law and conceptual power of equal pay? Might decertification undermine the structure of equal pay law, with all hard-won gains it has brought for women? Or is it possible to imagine that decertification could accompany a more inclusive and effective legal architecture for equal pay?

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The Sex Discrimination Act 1975: The End of a Decade

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

IMPLEMENTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 1980s: AN OVERVIEW

IMPLEMENTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 1980s: AN OVERVIEW

The whiteness of ‘sex discrimination’: theorising white feminist ideology in politics

Decertifying Gender: The Challenge of Equal Pay

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