Equality in the U.K.•Unlike most of the E.U., the first laws addressing discrimination in Britain concerned race and ethnicity rather than gender. 1965 Race Relations Act.

•A Women’s National Commission was established in 1969, but cut by the Coalition Government in 2010.

•The first major law on sex discrimination was 1970 Equal Pay Act which came into force in 1975. It focused on employment.

•Tribunals and courts looked at Class relationships, between employers and employees e.g. Low Pay Commission 1997; National Minimum Wage 1998.

•Developments in Europe influenced the U.K. E.g. Treaty of Amsterdam 1999 & Human Rights Act 1998.•Equality laws have become more concerned with the sale and distribution of goods and services.

•Equality policy was established around Ethnicity, Gender and then Disability. Other issues of Age, Religion/Belief and Sexual Orientation were built on this legacy.

•Since 2006, new laws on equality dealt with all forms rather than treating each separately. This new model sees all inequalities as having similar origins and as structurally generated.

•In 2007 the Equality and Human Rights Commission was established.

•There have been contests between the different strands e.g. Religion clashing with the rights of Women and the rights of Sexual Minorities.

•Currently the policy is not merely about justice but attempts to be transformative. E.g. Not just equal pay but looking at how child care may enable a woman to go to work.

•Crime Policy: Over the last 30 years there has been improvements in the policies and prosecution of ‘Hate Crime’, particularly violence against women and minorities.

•There have been intersections (or overlap) between these groupings E.g. Forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation