Equal Opportunities Commission was set up with statutory powers to tackle sex discrimination.
Its remit was to help enforce the Sex Discrimination Act, the Equal Pay Act and other gender equality legislation. Due to the ability of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly to vary the law in this area, separate EOC sub-agencies existed for Scotland and Wales. The EOC did not cover Northern Ireland, where instead these matters were dealt with by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
In 2007 the EOC, Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission were merged into a new rights body, the Equality and Human Rights Commission.