It's billed as the biggest change in sex equality legislation for 30 years. On Friday, 6 April the Gender Equality Duty comes into effect, designed to proactively tackle polices and practices that look gender neutral, but can contribute to greater inequality.
Here we explain how it may affect you.
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What if I feel that I'm disadvantaged by my gender? The Gender Equality Duty means the obligation is on public organisations to be proactive about equality - specifically by doing more in the way of consulting, assessing, formulating and implementing plans - and in general by thinking harder about equality and measures to address inequality.
But if you feel that the public sector organisations you interact with just aren't taking into account the differences between men and women, next month the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) will be putting template letters online that you can send to complain.
The current setup requires individuals to take cases to court; in future the EOC might be able to help.
