One Anti-Discrimination Statute?
The Possible Benefit of a Single Anti-Discrimination Statute
Given that the anti-discrimination legislation in the UK has developed and changed over time so that new grounds of discrimination are recognised and old ones expanded, the current legislation is somewhat inconsistent and unwieldy for those wishing to expand the law so as to allow claims of multiple discrimination.
As the different grounds of discrimination are protected by different statutes, it is procedurally difficult to bring a multiple discrimination claim as there is no single piece of legislation to take recourse to. If the UK legislation was overhauled so as to create a single Equality or Anti-Discrimination Act that covered all the permitted grounds of discrimination then it would be theoretically easier to bring a claim which required protection being given for multiple grounds.
The Impact of the Equality Act 2006
The Equality Act 2006 created a single Equality and Human Rights Commission which will oversee the implementation of anti-discrimination legislation and format policy suggestions to continue the fight against discrimination. Although the Act only came into force fully in April 2007, this single Commission has the potential to have a great positive impact on the issue of multiple discrimination.
One of the main factors in the legislation being unable to adequately deal with claims of multiple discrimination has been the fact that each ground of discrimination is considering wholly separate from every other ground. Until it is recognised, and the legislation caters for the fact, that discrimination is rarely such a neat business and that grounds will frequently intersect, claims of multiple discrimination will not be successful. The fusing of the Commissions could well be the first step towards the fusing of the legislation so that there is a single anti-discrimination statute which allows for the indivisible nature of much discrimination.
An Insufficient Solution?
However, in order to give full recognition to claims of multiple discrimination, simply consolidating the legislation would not be sufficient on its own. As has already been discussed, the UK treats each ground of discrimination as separate and isolated from each other ground and this, coupled with the procedural difficulties created by the separate statutes, is the main stumbling block to claims of multiple discrimination.
If such claims are to succeed, then the legislation must be further altered (as well as merging into formal a single new Act) so that the grounds of discrimination protected do not remain fixed and separate.
References:
Lacey, N. "From Individual to Group? A Feminist Analysis of the Limits of Anti-Discrimination Legislation" in Unspeakable Subjects: Feminist Essays in Legal and Social Theory (1989) (Oxford: Hart)
Hannett, S. "Equality at the Intersections: The Legislative and Judicial Failure to Tackle Multiple Discrimination" (2003) 23 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 65
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