Anti-discrimination law

Anti-discrimination law refers to the law on the right of people to be treated equally. Some countries mandate that in employment, in consumer transactions, and in political participation people must be dealt with on an equal basis regardless of sex, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, mental, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression/dysphoria, sex characteristics, religious, creed, or individual political opinions.

Examples of anti-discrimination law include,

Employment rates for disabled men in all age categories, and disabled women under the age of 40, fell sharply after the ADA. Dr. John Bound, professor of economics at the University of Michigan, opined that part of the decrease may be attributed to expansion of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) during the 1970s.

NBER find some evidence that sex discrimination/equal pay laws boosted the relative earnings of black and white females and reduced the relative employment of both black women and white women.

Where anti-discrimination legislation is in force, exceptions are sometimes included in the laws, particularly affecting the military and religions.

In many nations with anti-discrimination legislation, women are excluded from holding certain positions in the military, such as serving in a frontline combat capacity or aboard submarines. The reason given varies; for example, the British Royal Navy cite the reason for not allowing women to serve aboard submarines as medical and related to the safety of an unborn fetus, rather than that of combat effectiveness.

Some religious organizations are exempted from legislation. For example, in Britain the Church of England, in common with other religious institutions, has historically not allowed women to hold senior positions (bishoprics) despite sex discrimination in employment generally being illegal; the prohibition was confirmed by a vote by the Church synod in 2012.

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