The New Equality Act

The positive of this Act is that all public bodies are combined into that Act. Public bodies provide a single transparent statement on a broad range of bodies sponsored by the UK government. During 2010 and 2011, there was no cross-government report: instead departments were responsible for publishing their own reports.

There is a lot of emphasis on promoting equality than there is on reducing inequality. This is positive because equality is being promoted so more people are aware of it, therefore they will start to educate others about it reducing it without being forced to do. Trying to reduce inequality will in fact promote more of it, which is why it is good to focus on the positives.

The New Equality Act protects people even better as they are given more rights to safeguard them. The Act also raises awareness of good and bad behaviour, this protects everyone. It also gives women and men more opportunities and empowers them. Women are specially empowered as they have the right to work in sectors they couldn’t in the old day. Men have opportunities to work in the health sector that they would normally not be found in.

The new equality Act influences protection against all types of discrimination including covert, indirect and direct abuse. It protects everyone no matter their race, gender, and all other protected characteristics. The concept of the new equality act protects individuals from being discriminated in employment, housing and other basic things such as housing, accessing good and services such as transportation and care services.

Another positive of this Act is that it clearly indicates who is protected and how they are protected. The equality act helps raise awareness of discrimination, gives people more rights to protect them and it gives them more opportunities for jobs and to be treated fairly in general. The New Equality Act concept benefits vulnerable and ethnic minority groups in society.

As for the negatives, victims can only take action if they are educated of the legislation to which less people are aware of it and victims may be disadvantaged due to their cultural and language or legal understanding. Discrimination is often covert which means it’s very hard to notice it hence it will still carry on unnoticed.

Legislation on its own does not completely wipe away all the discrimination, it still exists. More emphasis is needed especially in education as children are not protected by this Act. Also, there should be more emphasis on social media where all the stereotypes are formed and these will be carried into society leading to discrimination.

Another negative of this new equality act is that it is one big legislation that makes it hard to maintain, it’s too much for the police to keep up with the complaints and cases related to it. Besides, it is costly both emotionally and financially to take discrimination cases to courts which is why people just “put up with it”.

Adding on to that, most people are not educated enough about their human rights and for those who are, they are scared of victimization if they complain. This allows discrimination to continue and make it difficult for this equality act to be successful. Also in top positions in businesses, there is still gender gap and the white males are still in positions. It is very rare to find a woman of a minor minority to be in power.