Direct and indirect discrimination

• Direct sex discrimination is when an employee is treating

unfavourably because of their sex. Indirect sex discrimination can
occur if employers or managers hold assumptions about what sort
of work women and men are capable, or not capable, of doing.

Examples:
• Direct : A hospital insists that a male nurse has a chaperone when
seeing patients and a female nurse is not required to have a
chaperone
• Indirect : An employer specifies that applicants for a job must be
over six feet tall, even though this would not affect the person’s
ability to do the job. This would be indirect discrimination against
women, since it would be harder for them to fulfil this criterion
 Areas of society
• gender in many areas of life, including
o marriage and family
o employment
o education
o culture
o religion
o sport
 People at risk
• persons:
o of a different sex
o who have a different sexual orientation
o who have a different gender identity
o who are not of intersex status
o who have a different marital or relationship
status
o who are not pregnant or potentially pregnant
o who are not breastfeeding
 Preventive measures
• An employer should develop discrimination
and harassment policies that address sex
discrimination including:
– Sex stereotyping
– Same sex harassment
– Pregnancy discrimination, family and medical
leave
• All employment policies should be applied in a
gender-neutral manner