Protected characteristics and the Equality Act 2010

Equality Act 2010

The main part of the Equality Act begins by setting out what it describes as protected characteristics. These are to be found in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Equality Act and are:

  • age;
  • disability;
  • gender reassignment;
  • marriage and civil partnership;
  • pregnancy and maternity;
  • race;
  • religion or belief;
  • sex;
  • sexual orientation.

Most of these characteristics are defined as they were previously; however, disability and gender reassignment receive new definitions. The definitions for the protected characteristics are set out in the Equality Act in sections 5 to 11.

This section looks at each of the protected characteristics.

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