Key points
- The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 came into force in 1975 (as did the Equal Pay Act 1970) was intended to make certain types of sex and marriage discrimination unlawful, and established a Commission (the Equal Opportunities Commission, now the Employment and Human Rights Commission, or EHRC) to work towards the elimination of such discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.
- At Baker McKenzie, we're going to use 2025 as an opportunity to look back at 1975 and how far we've come – but also ahead, to see what challenges remain in a world in which both discrimination and equality of opportunity are as topical and important as they have ever been.
- Topics we will cover this year include equal pay, maternity and other family leave protections, menopause and sexual harassment.
- For more discussion about the issues raised, please get in touch with the authors or your usual Baker McKenzie contact.
In more detail
This year's International Women's Day theme is Accelerate Action: at the current rate of progress it will take approximately another five generations to reach full global gender parity in 2058. This theme emphasises the importance of urgency to address the systematic barriers and biases that women may face, both personally and professionally.
While we look forward to 2058, this year in the UK we are also looking back, acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. The Act, which came into force on 29 December 1975 (as did the Equal Pay Act 1970) was intended to make certain types of sex and marriage discrimination unlawful, and established a Commission (the Equal Opportunities Commission, now the Employment and Human Rights Commission, or EHRC) to work towards the elimination of such discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.
At Baker McKenzie, we're going to use 2025 as an opportunity to look back at 1975 and how far we've come – but also ahead, to see what challenges remain and how employers can "accelerate action" in a world in which both discrimination and equality of opportunity are as topical and important as they have ever been.
That was then
Women workers employed by Ford in Dagenham went on strike in 1968, demanding equal pay. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970, but only came into force five years later. Meanwhile, a number of women's organisations had campaigned actively for a Sex Discrimination Bill in the early 1970s. The new legislation was brought in under Harold Wilson's Labour government of 1974-75 (with a separate Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order enacted in 1976).
Although women were no longer required to resign on marriage as teachers from the 1940s, and as recently as 1973 if they worked for the Foreign Office, it was only the passing of the Act that made such requirements unlawful for all employees. While maternity leave was introduced in the UK in 1933, statutory maternity pay was not introduced until 1987 (maternity allowance was a contributory benefit before then) but crucially, pregnant women and new mothers had no protection from dismissal until the Sex Discrimination Act came into force.
And in 1975, the UK was a long way from recognising that sexual harassment could be unlawful discrimination at work. The concept of sexual harassment was formulated in women's groups by the early 1970s, first in the US and then extending to other countries including the UK, but it wasn't until the early 1980s that that the issue became more widely discussed following campaigns by feminist groups and trade unions. Despite this, an attempt to change the law through legislation in 1983 failed. It wasn't until 1986 that the Scottish Court of Session found that Jean Porcelli had been discriminated against by male colleagues whose behaviour (including lewd insults) was deliberately intended to force her out of her job.
And this is now
Areas we will examine during the year include, for example:
- Equal pay
While the Equal Pay Act 1970 may have banned paying women less for the same work, it wasn't until a successful case brought by the European Commission against in the UK in 1982 that it was amended to include the thorny concept of equal pay for work of equal value. Today, we see this playing out in the longstanding retail claims against supermarkets and other chains. Pay transparency illuminates the structural drivers of the inequality that still exist: in the UK, gender pay gap reporting was introduced in 2017 (and the government has promised proposals for race and disability reporting to follow), while the EU's Pay Transparency Directive will shine a brighter spotlight on equal pay claims across the EU.
- Maternity and other family leave protections
Statutory maternity pay was introduced in 1987, and UK women today are entitled to up to a year's leave from work, with statutory minimum maternity pay for 33 of those weeks for employees who qualify. Similar rights are now in place for adoptive parents of either sex, while fathers and the mother's partner are entitled to limited freestanding leave, and can share parental leave with the mother if she agrees to give up some of her own maternity entitlement. In addition, there has been a recognition of the importance of other types of family leave including time off to care for dependents, parental leave, carers leave and this year, entitlement to neonatal leave for parents whose newborns are admitted to hospital.
In Dobson v. North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, the EAT held that tribunals should accept that women are more likely to bear the primary burden of childcare responsibilities, and that this hinders their ability to work at certain times (in that case, a flexible working pattern covering weekends); this has been noticed by courts at all levels for many years but as societal attitudes towards childcare change, we may see a shift in emphasis. The recent EAT case of Marston (Holdings) Ltd v. Perkins has emphasised that judicial notice of the childcare disparity does not obviate the need to examine the actual impact of a policy or practice.
Menopause – for so long, unmentioned? – is now openly discussed, with its own Acas guidance, employers introducing menopause policies, case law confirming that severe symptoms may amount to a disability… and, according to recent research, a three-fold rise in claims since 2022.
And watch this space – while not currently supported by the government, a number of amendments to the Employment Rights Bill propose new leave rights for survivors of domestic abuse.
- Protection from sexual harassment
Sexual harassment – and harassment based on other protected characteristics – still regularly makes the news. A positive duty to prevent sexual harassment came into force in October 2024 requiring employers to risk assess their business and take reasonable steps to prevent harassment of workers, including in practice by third parties. The Employment Rights Bill is expected to extend this requirement to "all" reasonable steps, as well as adding disclosures about sexual harassment to the list of topics that can qualify as protected whistleblowing.
Fifty years on… and the journey continues
Throughout the remainder of 2025, we will be looking not only at what 21st century employers should be doing to level the playing field for women, but also how steps already taken have laid the foundations for equality for other protected groups and crucially, what's next to ensure equality in the workplace.
Please get in touch with us, or your usual Baker McKenzie contact, if you have particular topics you would like us to cover, and watch out for our blogs, vlogs, and in-person events.
