What Is Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Gender discrimination in the workplace is when a person is treated less favourably at work because of their sex, gender identity, intersex status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, marital status or family responsibilities. It is unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and covers far more ground than most people assume.

The attributes protected under that Act are broad, and the ones employers most often overlook are pregnancy and family responsibilities. Declining to consider a flexible work request from a returning parent, redesigning a role while someone is on parental leave, or assuming a woman with young children will not want a role that involves travel are all decisions that can breach the Act even when nobody intended harm.

Since 12 December 2023 the Sex Discrimination Act has also carried a positive duty. Employers and other duty holders must take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, hostile workplace environments and related victimisation, as far as possible. This flipped the model. The obligation is no longer to respond once a complaint lands, it is to act before one does. The Australian Human Rights Commission has had enforcement powers since that date, including inquiries, compliance notices and enforceable undertakings, and for 2025 to 2026 it named retail trade and accommodation and food services as focus industries.

Reasonable and proportionate is scaled to your size, resources and risk profile, so what a 40-person business needs to do differs from a national employer. The Commission’s positive duty guidance for organisations and businesses sets out what it expects in practice. This is general information rather than legal advice.

The articles tagged here cover what gender discrimination is and what employers can do about it. To train your people, see Sentrient’s equal employment opportunity course and sexual harassment course, or the full range of workplace compliance courses.