Equality and Human Rights Commission

You have the right not to be treated unfairly because of your gender when you use goods or services, whether these are paid for or free.

This right applies to men and women, but there is currently no legislation outlawing discrimination about transsexual people in the provision of goods and services.

Exemptions

There are some circumstances in which service providers are exempt from the Sex Discrimination Act. These are:

• where different skills are needed
• special care or requirements
• religious exceptions
• where equal treatment would cause serious embarrassment
• physical contact
• voluntary organisations
• charities
• sport

For more detail on these exceptions, see Sex discrimination as a consumer: what the law says.

For more on discrimination when using goods and services, see Business selling goods.

Accommodation

You have the right not to be discriminated against because of your gender when someone provides you with accommodation.

This includes private landlords, managing agents and housing associations as well as public accommodation providers such as local authorities. For more on your rights in accommodation, see housing.

Example:

I am currently trying to rent a flat for myself and three other men. The estate agent we have approached told us that they charge single sex groups a higher deposit. However, when my female friend rang up to ask about a property for an all-female group, they didn't mention this. Is this lawful?

If the agent is genuinely treating all male groups less favourably than all female groups, this would be sex discrimination.

Exceptions

There are some exceptions to the Sex Discrimination Act in providing accommodation.

It is lawful to restrict a tenancy to one sex if the person who is letting the property or a near relative of theirs lives on the premises, and the premises are small.

Example:

Three female students want to sublet a fourth room in a house, and specify in their advertisement that they will only consider female tenants. This is likely to be lawful because the person who has power to dispose of the property lives on the premises.

Voluntary bodies that are single sex, non-profit making and not set up under any laws can restrict membership to one sex and provide accommodation to those members. It can also provide accommodation to members of the public of one sex only where this is the main object of the organisation.
 
There is a similar exception for single sex charities where the provision of single sex accommodation is contained in a charitable instrument.

Communal accommodation – residential accommodation which includes dormitories or other shared sleeping accommodation – can be restricted to one sex only for reasons of privacy and decency or because of the nature of the sanitary facilities available.

For more on your rights in housing, see housing.

Advertising

It is against the law to publish an advertisement that suggests an intention to commit an illegal act of sex discrimination. This applies to placing an advertisement as well as printing it. Newspapers, other publishing media, and their clients must therefore be aware of their obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act when dealing with illustrated advertisements.

Examples of sex discrimination in advertisements include:

• a restaurant owner puts a card in the window saying that 'waiters are required'. This implies that the job is open to men only. The advertisement needs to make it clear that the vacancy is open to both men and women eg 'waiter/waitress required'
• a supermarket puts up posters advertising discounts to women shoppers but not to men
• a landlord, estate agent or accommodation agency advertises in a newspaper that a self-contained flat is 'suitable for a respectable gentleman'.
• an employer advertises for 'a person who is 6 feet tall and plays rugby' when these requirements are not necessary to do the job
• a nightclub advertises 'free drinks to all people wearing skirts'.

What is an advertisement?

An advertisement is defined in the Sex Discrimination Act as: 'every form of advertisement, whether to the public or not, and whether in a newspaper or other publication, by television or radio; by display of notices; signs; labels; showcards or goods; by distribution of samples; circulars; catalogues; price lists or other material; by exhibition of pictures; models or films; or in any other way....'.

An 'advertisement' would therefore include advertising in the media and on the Internet, as well as direct mail advertising, in-company advertising and careers films.

Who is liable if a discriminatory advertisement is published?

The Sex Discrimination Act provides that both the advertiser (the employer or service provider) and their agents (such as employment agencies), and the publisher of the advertisement are liable if such an advertisement is published. Publishers include newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations etc; and also include employment agencies, Jobcentres and advertising agencies.

Advertising goods, facilities and services

The Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for anyone who provides goods, facilities or services to the public, to treat women less favourably than men (and vice versa). This applies even if the goods, facilities or services are provided free of charge. Examples of the goods, facilities and services covered are:

• access to and use of the facilities in public places such as hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, pubs, recreation centres, etc
• financial facilities provided by banks, credit card companies, stores, insurance companies, building societies, local authorities, etc
• facilities for education, eg for various kinds of professional or vocational training, or certain adult education classes (regular education in schools and universities etc is mostly dealt with under the education sections of the Sex Discrimination Act)
• any public transport facilities, or travel or transport facilities offered by private companies or travel agents, and
• any of the services offered by local authorities.

So, service providers cannot advertise discriminatory facilities or services on offer to women and men. For example, it would be unlawful for a nightclub to offer free admission to women while men have to pay.

To find out more about service providers’ obligations, read Service providers.

Advertising education courses

Schools, colleges and universities providing education and training cannot advertise courses for women-only or men-only. The only exceptions are where:

• the establishment is single sex
• the educational establishment is providing a vocational training course and meets all the requirements for positive action, as defined by the Sex Discrimination Act, for that course only. The Sex Discrimination Act allows training organisations to take positive action measures to advertise women-only or men-only training courses for work where it can be shown that few or no people of that sex have done that kind of work in the previous year. Training providers can also use special encouragement, when advertising, to attract the under represented sex onto mixed courses.
• the educational establishment is running a course aimed at providing training to persons who have been discharging domestic or family responsibilities and have, therefore, had a break from regular employment.

Educational establishments should take care that brochures, college handbooks and other material do not give the impression that admission to courses or training is restricted to one sex.

To find out more about education providers’ obligations, read either Guidance for education providers: Schools or Guidance for education providers: Further and Higher Education.

Insurance

You have the right not to be discriminated against because of your gender when you buy or use insurance services. However, insurance companies are allowed to discriminate if there is reliable evidence to show that there is a relevant difference between people of different genders.
 
Example:

An insurance company offers cheaper car insurance to women based on statistical data that shows women have fewer accidents. This is likely to be lawful.

However, if the company refuses to provide insurance to men at all, this is likely to be unlawful discrimination.

Exceptions

There are some limited circumstances in which discrimination would be allowed. There is a general exception for insurance in section 45 of the SDA, which states that:

'It is not unlawful to treat a person in a discriminatory way in relation to an annuity, life assurance policy, accident insurance policy, or similar matter involving the assessment of risk, where the treatment:

(a) was affected by reference to actuarial or other data from a source on which it was reasonable to rely, and

(b) was reasonable having regard to the data and any other relevant factors.'

This exception does not apply to credit arrangements or occupational pensions; men and women must be treated equally.

Finance

You have the right not to be discriminated against because of your gender when you buy or use financial services or products. It is unlawful for any bank, building society, or other financial organisation to refuse to provide a service, or provide it in a less favourable way, to a male or female customer because of their sex.

These services may include the provision of grants, loans, mortgages, credit or finance, as well as facilities for banking. Whatever the financial service or facility, a woman must be treated the same as a man in comparable circumstances would be treated.

Example

A man and a woman of similar financial standing both apply for a £10,000 loan. The man is granted the loan but the woman is told that she must provide a guarantor. This is likely to be direct sex discrimination against the woman.

Example

A mortgage provider only gives mortgages to people in full-time employment. The requirement to work full time to be eligible for a mortgage would adversely affect more women, since more women work part-time. A blanket refusal to give a mortgage to a person because they work part-time would not be justifiable and would be likely to constitute indirect sex discrimination.

Private members’ clubs

When services are provided to you by a private members’ club of which you are a member, the club is not bound by the Sex Discrimination Act as a service provider and can lawfully discriminate on grounds of gender. However, private clubs must still obey the Sex Discrimination Act in the way they treat their employees.

The rules and practices of private members' clubs have over the years resulted in many complaints of discrimination. The main issue has been the different classes of membership that are open to one sex only.

Example

A golf club restricts 'full membership' to men. Only full members have the right to set the rules of the club and have full access to the club. 'Associate membership' is restricted to women and has reduced rights and limited access to the club. As long as the club is genuinely private, this would be lawful.

A private members’ club is one that genuinely selects its members on personal grounds, rather than, for example, accepting as a member anyone who pays the membership fee.

When a club offers services to the public – for example, hiring out rooms for functions – it does have to obey the Sex Discrimination Act, and must provide this service without discriminating unfairly on the grounds of gender.

For more information about the responsibilities of private members’ clubs, see Service providers: clubs and associations.

Pubs and nightclubs

Pubs and nightclubs are service providers and must avoid discrimination on the grounds of gender. As with other service providers, this means they cannot discriminate by:

• refusing to provide you with a service
• providing you with a lower standard of service
• providing you with a service on worse terms

Example

A pub gives free drinks to women, but men have to pay. This is likely to be unlawful direct sex discrimination against men.

Example

A nightclub offers free admission to anyone wearing a skirt. This is likely to be unlawful indirect discrimination against men, since they will be less likely to fulfil this criterion.

Sport

The definition of 'service provider' includes most sporting organisations, which means you have the right not to be discriminated against because of your gender.

There is a general exception to the Sex Discrimination Act for sport where the “where the physical strength, stamina or physique of the average woman puts her at a disadvantage to the average man”. In these cases it is lawful to discriminate on gender grounds.

Example

A local darts team refuses to allow women to play in the team. This is likely to be direct sex discrimination.

Example

A bowling team has a minimum height restriction for players. This is unrelated to players’ ability and is likely to disadvantage women, and so is likely to be unlawful indirect sex discrimination.

This rule also applies to sport in an educational context. For more about sex discrimination in education, see Gender: Sex discrimination in education.

Exceptions

There are some exceptions allowing sporting organisations to discriminate between the sexes.

• Voluntary bodies - A voluntary body may use this exception in order to restrict membership to one sex and provide its services to those members. The voluntary body must be non-profit making, single sex and not set up under any laws. For example, men-only or women-only leagues or teams, and single-sex sporting clubs are often set up as single sex voluntary bodies and are therefore allowed to restrict membership to one sex.
• Serious embarrassment - Services may be restricted to one sex if the users are likely to suffer ' serious embarrassment' at the presence of a member of the opposite sex or the users are likely to be in a state of undress. Where this is the reason for women only saunas and leisure facilities then this exception could apply.
• Physical contact - Facilities or services may be restricted to one sex if they involve physical contact between the participants where a member of one sex might reasonably object if the contact was with a person of the opposite sex. A self-defence class restricted to women only might rely on this exception.
• Private members' clubs - Currently genuinely private members' clubs are not covered by the SDA. A private members club is one, which operates genuine selection of members on personal grounds e.g. a new member must be proposed, seconded and accepted by the existing membership. Therefore they can be single sex or, if they admit both sexes, can have rules that disadvantage one sex. Some clubs may think of themselves as 'private' but admit members freely - if so, they would not be considered a private members club and would be acting unlawfully if they treated men and women differently.

Frequently, sporting clubs such as golf and bowling clubs discriminate between the sexes by having different classes of membership for men and women - private members clubs are allowed to do this under the current law.

For more about services provided by private members’ clubs, see Guidance for service users: Your rights to equality as a member, associate member or guest.