1. SmartLaw Resource Discrimination ●
Explain that in today’s session you will be looking at the development of anti-discrimination law, the different types of discrimination and how the law deals with them.
Suggested timings are given as a loose guide. You should spend as long as you need and want on each activity. This will depend on your group’s needs, how well an activity is being received and the amount and level of discussion that is being generated. It is not necessary to complete all the activities in this lesson.
Use the ‘Consider’ questions to help generate and guide discussion with your class.
Discrimination

2. Discrimination
Lesson Objectives
Know what discrimination is and that there are two kinds of discrimination
Understand who equality law protects and why
Be able to create a persuasive argument about equality law
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3. My Identity music taste religion appearance culture race age
Discrimination
My Identity
music taste
religion
appearance
culture
Use the sheet to think about how you and other people would describe your identity.
age
race
friends
where you live
family
sexuality
The “My Identity” worksheet (worksheet 1) can be downloaded separately.
What is discrimination? Can you think of a reason why someone might discriminate against you?
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4. What is discrimination?
There are two types of discrimination
Direct discrimination. This tends to be more obvious, e.g. racist comments or sacking a woman due to pregnancy.
Indirect discrimination. This is a less obvious form of discrimination, e.g. forcing everyone in a company to start work at 8:00 in the morning when this may negatively affect working mothers.
Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably because of their race, sex, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, level of ability, pregnancy etc. This tends to be a more obvious form of discrimination.
Indirect discrimination occurs where the effect of certain conditions, requirements or practices put in place have a negative impact on one group more than another. This is a less obvious form of discrimination.
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5. Discrimination throughout history
Can you match the dates to the law?
1833
Some women entitled to vote for the first time
1918
Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire
Disability discrimination wasn’t outlawed until two decades after racial and gender discrimination. Why do you think this was?
1967
Same-sex marriage legalised
1970
Equal Pay Act demands that women and men are paid an equal wage for equal work
1976
Race-related discrimination banned
1995
Consider
Q: Do any of these events or dates surprise you?
Q: Do you think people are discriminated against more or less today than they were in the past? Why do you think this?
Q: What do you notice about this timeline? When were many anti-discrimination laws passed?
The final question is open-ended. Pupils might suggest that it was difficult to define “disability” or “disability discrimination” very clearly, or that it was difficult to suggest to employers what to do to effectively combat disability discrimination.
The Equality Act 2010 was introduced in England and Wales to simplify much of the anti-discrimination law that came before it and brings it into one place. This does not extend to NI. Instead anti-discrimination legalisation is still contained in separate pieces of legislation.
The anti-discrimination legislation in place makes it law that the private, public and voluntary sectors must not discriminate against employees and service users because of particular characteristics.
Discriminating against disabled people in relation to employment banned
2013
Homosexuality legalised
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6. Is it legal? Discrimination
Use the “Is it Legal?” worksheet (worksheet 2) for this activity. The scenario cards on the worksheet can be cut-up in advance or during the lesson. Pupils may work in pairs to establish whether the cut-up scenarios are legal or illegal, and place them on their grids. If pupils are unsure, encourage discussion about why the situation in question could be legal or illegal.
To differentiate the activity you may wish to give the “Discrimination Cheat Sheet” (worksheet 4) to certain pupils in the class to accompany the scenarios sheets.
The ‘Consider’ questions can be used as part of a discussion about the outcomes of each scenario.
Consider
Q: What do you think about the outcomes of these cases?
Q: Do you think these laws are fair? Which would you change? Why?
Q: Should we care about how people who are in different situations to ourselves are treated? Why/why not?
Q: Can you think of any other types of discrimination that we didn’t just cover?
Q: Are there any forms of discrimination you feel you experience? Could the law help? How?
Look at your scenarios sheet. Do you think the situation was legal or illegal, or are you unsure?
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7. The Answers Unsure Is it legal? Discrimination
The UK no longer has a default retirement age of 65. Employers have to justify all retirement dismissals. The Supreme Court said in 2012 that employers needed to give particular consideration to whether a ‘public interest’ is served when telling someone to retire.
Mark is a partner in a small law firm. When he reached 65 he was told he had to retire.
Is it legal?
Unsure
1.8 million people aged between 55 and 64 have suffered age discrimination in the workplace (statistics from Age Concern). Age discrimination has been illegal since 2006.
Consider
Q: 65 year-olds don’t have to retire. Should they be forced to?
Q: Should the rules be the same for men and women?
Q: Does it matter that women often live longer than men?
Q: Should the rules be the same for all jobs?
Q: If someone is fit and healthy, why should they have to retire?
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8. The Answers illegal Is it legal? Discrimination
Discrimination on the grounds of sex is prohibited in the areas of employment, education, and the provision of goods and services. Employers are not allowed to recruit on the basis of gender unless there are exceptional circumstances (eg a role in a play needs to be held by a woman in order to play a female character).
Jane is turned down for a job working as an assistant in a men’s clothing store. She believes this is because of her gender.
Is it legal?
illegal
It is also unlawful for men and women to be treated differently whilst in work (such as being paid different amounts for the same job) just because they are different genders.
Consider
Q: Can you think of any examples of jobs that only men or women could do? Why are they ‘exceptional’?
Eg. Women working at women's refuge shelters.
Q: Figures from the PWC in 2016showed that women earned around 24% less than men in the UK. Why do you think this is? How are employers getting away with this?
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9. The Answers illegal Is it legal? Discrimination
Businesses and organisations must make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their property to overcome physical barriers to access (eg installing lifts as well as stairs). All new buildings should be constructed so as to allow disabled people proper access.
Lana is in a wheelchair and the bank she works at has just opened up a new branch in a brand new purpose-built building. Lana can’t use this branch because the only access to this building is up a set of stairs.
Is it legal?
Consider
Q: Should these rules apply to all buildings or just some? Which? Libraries? Churches? Schools? Museums? Cinemas? Supermarkets?
Q: It might be extremely expensive to make a building accessible - do you think the benefits outweigh the cost?
Q: What other considerations do employers need to make for different disabled members of staff?
Note: Mental health problems are also considered to be a disability. In 2014 a case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal confirmed that a decision for ‘Gross Misconduct’ should have been considered in light of employee’s mental health issues.
illegal
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10. The Answers illegal Is it legal? Discrimination
It is unlawful to discriminate on racial grounds against another person. You are protected by the law if you have been abused or harassed on racial grounds, and this could include racist jokes. It is also unlawful to treat someone less favourably than others because they have brought a case of racial discrimination to the attention of his/her employers. This is known as victimisation.
Sean, an Irish man, refused to laugh at the Irish jokes that his work colleagues made about him. He complained to his manager but was told not to worry about it. When he made a further complaint he was dismissed by his company for having ‘an attitude problem.’
Is it legal?
Consider
Q: Do you agree with this? Why?
Q: Would it make a difference if the person telling the joke didn’t think it would offend anyone?
Sean was experiencing racial abuse against the Irish and could take his case to the industrial tribunal. He is a victim of discrimination on racial grounds. He is also suffering harassment – if Sean doesn’t join in the joke against him, he may be seen as not being ‘part of the team’ and may become isolated, making his work environment hostile. It is also unlawful to treat someone less favourably than other because they have brought a case of racial discrimination to the attention of his/her employers. This is know as victimisation.
illegal
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11. The Answers illegal Is it legal? Discrimination
More than one type of discrimination can occur in a single case. In this case Carol suffers both gender and racial discrimination. This was a real case brought forward by PC Carol Howard. In July 2014 a tribunal ruled that she had been discriminated against by the Metropolitan Police, and had been targeted by her boss for almost a year. She was awarded £37,000 in damages.
Carol was the only black, female Police Officer working in the Diplomatic Protection Group. She was singled out and targeted by her manager who would undermine, discredit and belittle her in front of her colleagues.
Is it legal?
Consider
Q: What would you have done if you were in Carol’s position?
illegal
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12. The Answers illegal Is it legal? Discrimination
Michael and Malcolm are in a romantic relationship. They are living in Northern Ireland and decide that they want to get married in their local registry office but are told they can’t because they are both men.
Is it legal?
In July 2013 the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act was passed. This gives same sex couples the same right to marry as heterosexual couples.
In July 2013 the marriage (same sex couples) Act was passed in England and Wales but does not extend to NI. In fact NI is the only part of the United Kingdom where gay marriage is not legal
Consider
Q: What similarities can you think of between homophobia and racism?
A: Both are forms of discrimination due to a trait of an individual that is beyond their control.
Q: In NI we generally respect an individual’s right to make their own decisions and choices provided that they don’t impact on other people’s lives. Should this apply to people’s relationships?
Q: Why do you think many people still campaigned for same sex couples to have the right to marry?
A: For many people the cultural and emotional significance of marriage is important, and having a separate institution for homosexual couples is not seen as equality. There are also some practical reasons people continued to campaign for same sex marriage. For example civil partnerships are not legally recognised in many other countries, such as Sweden, Argentina and Portugal despite same-sex marriage being legal.
illegal
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13. The Answers legal Is it legal? Discrimination
Rachel left school and applied to train as a nursery nurse at the local college. She was turned down because her exam grades were not good enough.
Is it legal?
It is not against the law to turn someone down because their exam results are not good enough.
legal
When a job or training/education place is advertised, the employer or admissions officer has the right to ask for certain qualifications as long as they don’t apply different standards to people of different races, religions, genders, etc.
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14. The Answers it depends Is it legal? Discrimination
A company has a policy that all bus drivers must wear a peaked cap at work as part of their uniform. Some staff have expressed concern that this may discriminate against certain groups of people.
Is it legal?
If there are no health and safety reasons for drivers to wear peaked caps (like there may be on a building site with hard hats) this could be a form of discrimination on religious grounds.
Consider
Q: Who might this rule discriminate against?
A: Wearers of turbans, headscarves etc
Q: Can this be justified?
A: It would need to be justified on non-racial/non-religious grounds e.g. for Health and Safety reasons. It would be hard to justify this rule in an office, but it might be reasonable on a building site.
it depends
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15. Religious Identity: Case Studies
Discrimination
Religious Identity: Case Studies
Read Sarika’s case study, then think about these questions…
How do you think Sarika defines her identity?
‘If you are a practising Sikh, you have no choice, you have to have the Kara. It is the one symbol that virtually every single Sikh wears’. Do you think this makes the Kara different from jewellery? Why?
Do you think that Sarika should be allowed to wear her Kara at school? Why?
Pupils may wish to read the case study aloud or in pairs. They can respond to the questions as part of a class discussion or in writing.
This is a true story. Sarika Watkins-Singh took her school to the High Court and won the right to wear her Kara in school.
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16. Religious Identity: Case Studies Discrimination
Lydia and her family are going to take her school to court.
Either: Create a persuasive argument Lydia could use to convince her school to let her wear the purity ring;
Or: Create an argument that could be used against Lydia to prevent her from wearing the ring at school.
Now read Lydia’s case study.
Are Sarika and Lydia’s situations the same or different? How?
Do you think Lydia should be allowed to wear her ring at school? Why?
In this case, the court decided that Lydia should not be allowed to wear her ring, as it was not an obligation of her faith.
If pupils cannot decide, the class could be split into two, either “for” or “against” Lydia’s right to wear the purity ring. This could form the basis of an extension debate about religious identity. Stress the difference between Sarika and Lydia’s cases: wearing the Kara is an obligation for Sikhs, but wearing a purity ring is not an obligation for Christians.
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17. Plenary Discrimination
What have you most agreed or disagreed with today?
What do you think about the way discrimination is handled in schools?
Do you think that it is important to have laws on discrimination? Why or why not?
Tweet us your most important thing you learnt today. @SmartLawCF using the hashtag #SmartLaw or leave a comment on our Facebook page, SmartLaw – Citizenship Foundation
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