Equality and Diversity - Building a Culture of ... - Equality Authority

Lessons 24
Who is Protected by the Legislation?
Learning Intentions
Students will understand who
is protected by the equality/
anti-discrimination legislation
Resources
Large Grounds Sheet for your
jurisdiction on either page 90
or 91 photocopied and enlarged
to A3 if possible.
Copies of the Cards on page
92 or 91, one complete set for
each group of 3-4 students
NB Please Read the Notes on the Grounds/Groups on page 88
before commencing the activity.
Activity
Who does the Legislation protect?
Explain to the students that the equality/anti-discrimination
legislation in both jurisdictions aims to do two things:
Protect people from discrimination or harassment
Promote equality in society
The legislation however, only covers discrimination or
harassment on the basis or the ground of belonging to a
particular group in society, for example, male or female. The
‘Grounds’, as they are called in Ireland, or membership of
certain groups, offer protection in certain circumstances, but
not all, and the grounds or groups differ slightly between
the two jurisdictions. (Note that in Ireland, all of the grounds
are included within the Equality Acts, whereas in Northern
Ireland specific acts apply to specific groups. See summary of
the legislation in Lesson 26)
Divide the class into threes or fours. Give each group a set of
the cards on page 92 and a copy of the grounds or groups for
your jurisdiction.
Ask the students to take each card in turn and to decide
which ground or group that person would fit into. Note that
some people do not fit into any of the grounds and those
cards should be left in a separate pile. (You could run this
as a competition to see which pair will complete the sorting
first).The answers are given on page 89.
When they have finished, ask for volunteers to report on who
they have included under the various grounds or groups.
Then ask them to think about why some groups of people are
not included in the legislation and see if they can think of
sECTION 4 1 Equality EXPLORING and DIVERSITY the Law 87