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Your protection from sex discrimination by service providers comes from:
• the Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• the Human Rights Act 1998
Changes to the law
The European Goods and Services Directive 2004/113 has widened the definition of indirect discrimination in the provision of goods and services.
In general, the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) requires goods, facilities and services, whether for payment or not, which are offered to the public to be provided on the same basis for both sexes. Examples of such services are: leisure and transport facilities, banking, personal and household services. The SDA prohibits direct and indirect sex discrimination.
Direct sex discrimination is less favourable treatment of a woman than a man (or vice versa) because of their sex.
Indirect sex discrimination occurs when a condition or requirement is applied equally to both women and men but, in fact, significantly fewer members of one sex would be able to comply with it and is not justifiable on objective grounds unrelated to sex. In order to show that this is the case, you would have to be ready with statistics to show that the condition would affect more members of one sex.
The Act provides for exceptions but unless a relevant exception to the requirements of the SDA can be used, facilities and services should be open to both sexes in the same way.
Only the County Court can ultimately decide whether there has been sex discrimination or whether one of the exceptions to the Act applies.
There are exceptions in the SDA which may apply to some services.
Different skills – s. 29(3)
Services which are designed for one sex only because different skills are required in order to provide the services to the opposite sex may be restricted to one sex only e.g. hairdressing and tailoring.
Special care, supervision or attention – s. 35(1)(a)
Services may be restricted to one sex where they are provided at an establishment for persons requiring special care, supervision or attention, for example, a hospital or resettlement unit.
Religious exception- s. 35(1)(b)
Services may be restricted to one sex where they take place somewhere that is (permanently or for the time being) occupied or used for the purposes of an organised religion and the facilities or services are restricted to one sex so as to comply with the doctrines of that religion or so as to avoid offending the religious susceptibilities of a significant number of its followers.
Serious embarrassment and state of undress - s.35 (1)(c)
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 and the users my reasonably object to the presence of the opposite sex. This exception may for example apply to sauna facilities. Some service providers have identified a need to provide women-only sport sessions such as swimming or badminton. This would be unlawful unless the provider could prove that mixed groups would cause serious embarrassment to the user(s).
Physical contact - s.35 (2)
It is permissible to restrict facilities to one sex if physical contact between the user and another person is likely and the other person might reasonably object if the user were of the opposite sex. For example, this exception may apply to self -defence classes.
Single Sex Voluntary Organisations - s.34
It is not unlawful for a voluntary organisation to restrict its membership to one sex. It is also not unlawful for a voluntary body to provide services and benefits to one sex only if this is the main object of the body i.e. the main reason why it was set up. This exception only applies if the organisation was not set up under an Act of Parliament, and does not operate for a profit. For example, section 34 could apply to a voluntary group which is set up to provide a free taxi service for women only or a voluntary boy's group which refuses to admit girl members. Once a body has decided to either admit both sexes or to provide services to both sexes, it is no longer allowed to discriminate between the sexes (disregarding any minor exceptions to membership rules or any provision of services to the other sex which is exceptional or relatively insignificant).
Charities - s.43
Charities can confer benefits on one sex only if it was set up specifically for this purpose under a statutory instrument. This does not mean that all charities are exempt from the Sex Discrimination Act.
General exception for sport - s.44
It is not unlawful in relation to any sport, game or other activity of a competitive nature where the physical strength, stamina or physique of the average woman puts her at a disadvantage to the average man, to confine competitors to one sex. For example, it would not be unlawful for the Football Association to refuse to allow women to play in the men's football league. Case law has held that this exception also allows separate competitions for boys and girls. This exception would not apply to non-competitive sporting activity. See Sports for further information.
If you think you may have a claim under the Sex Discrimination Act, see Using your rights for more information on how to take it forward.
The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) came into force on 2 October 2000. the aim of the HRA is to ensure that a set of basic human rights, which are laid down in the European Convention on human rights, are fully respected and can be enforced in the UK.
Under the Human Rights Act you have the right to freedom from discrimination. If you think you may have a claim under the Human Rights Act, see Using your rights for more information on how to take it forward.