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students in their union: clubs and societies handbook 2002/3Chapter 6: Equal OpportunitiesThis chapter will focus on: The Law Barriers to involvement Complaints and disciplinaryproceduresThe ethos of equal opportunities is not to treat everybody the same, as this will produce its own inequalities. Equalopportunities is about ensuring that any individual is not treated less favourably than any other individual.Students’ unions are under a legal duty to ensure that they practice equality of opportunity when providing a service fortheir members. Clubs and societies are included in this and when organising activities or events it is important that thinkabout how to be more accessible and involve a diverse population of students. There will however be some good equalopportunity reasons why this should be restricted, i.e. women’s groups and Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual groups.the lawThere are three key pieces of UK legislation that you should be aware of:• Sex Discrimination Act 1975• Race Relations Act 1976 and Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000• The Disability Discrimination Act 199535