The Sex Discrimination Act protected workers on grounds of sex or marital status. The SDA identified two types of discrimination – direct and indirect.
“In relation to the workplace specifically, the Sex Discrimination Act made it unlawful to discriminate on the ground of sex when offering employment, access to training and promotion, or in relation to dismissal (all of which were permissible previously).” Gender Equalities at Work, University of Edinburgh
The concept of indirect discrimination became important when women asked for reduced hours and flexible working. Because – then and still today – women tend to have more childcare responsibilities than men, it has been successfully argued that lack of flexibility in working hours can amount to indirect sex discrimination, even where the working patterns and required hours apply equally to both sexes in a workplace.