The primary goal of the law is to ensure that gender equality is promoted in all areas of society, to eliminate barriers that prevent minorities from achieving equal opportunities and to ensure equal treatment of individuals.

According to the explanatory memorandum of the draft, achieving gender balance within an organization requires more than just announcing a job opening and hoping that an equal number of men and women will apply and that all candidates will be treated equally.

"Perhaps it is necessary to review the wording of the job announcement. For instance, if looking for an 'office fairy' or 'housekeeper,' it is less likely that male candidates will apply, and conversely, job titles like 'repairman' or 'warehouseman' may reduce the interest of female candidates," states the memorandum.

Additionally, the list of requirements for the job needs to be critically examined. For example, the requirement for continuous work experience in recent years might exclude candidates who have been on parental leave. In fields with high gender segregation in the labor market, it may also be necessary to encourage applications from underrepresented genders.

Currently, the protected characteristics listed in the law include gender, nationality, ethnic origin, race, skin color, religion, belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. The new draft extends this list to include language, origin, property status and social status. It also clarifies characteristics previously encompassed by the term gender, such as gender identity, which may or may not coincide with the gender assigned at birth, gender expression, which refers to how an individual expresses their gender through clothing, speech and mannerisms, and gender characteristics, which describe an individual's physical body.

The prohibition of linguistic discrimination does not allow for distinctions to be made between individuals or groups based on their native language. While the requirement for proficiency in Estonian is generally justified according to the Constitution, the draft law notes that the prohibition of linguistic discrimination could become practical if, for example, preference is given to Russian over German.

Regarding race, the draft states that modern understanding acknowledges that there are no different races, as all humans belong to the same species. However, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) still uses the concept of race to ensure that individuals who are generally and mistakenly considered to belong to another race are not left without legal protection.

The draft also specifies that direct gender discrimination includes treating someone less favorably due to pregnancy and childbirth, fulfilling military service, being a parent, fulfilling family responsibilities or other gender-related circumstances. It also includes sexual harassment and less favorable treatment resulting from the rejection of or submission to such harassment.

"Multiple discrimination" term added to Estonian legislation

The draft law also defines the term harassment. Harassment occurs when there is unwanted conduct or action related to a protected characteristic or gender-related circumstance with the purpose or effect of undermining an individual's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

Sexual harassment is defined in the draft as any unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical behavior or action of a sexual nature, which has the actual effect or aim of degrading the individual's dignity.

Additionally, the draft introduces the term "multiple discrimination" into the Estonian legal framework. This term refers to less favorable treatment occurring simultaneously due to two or more protected characteristics. For example, an employer may impose multiple protected characteristic-based requirements on candidates, such as age and native language.

The draft law outlines obligations for state and local government institutions as promoters of equal opportunities. These institutions are required to actively, systematically and purposefully promote gender equality and equal opportunities. Their task is to change conditions and circumstances that hinder the reduction of societal inequality based on protected characteristics and achieve gender equality.

Fulfilling these obligations also necessitates the availability of data, meaning, for example, that ministries must actively work to ensure that the statistics agency collects data necessary for policy-making within their jurisdiction. Institutions are also tasked with implementing effective measures to change conditions that prevent people from different population groups from achieving gender equality and equal opportunities.

The draft also specifies that algorithms used by state institutions must adhere to the principles of equal treatment.

Educational and research institutions are also required to promote gender equality. Their task is to ensure that the learning environment, curricula, educational materials and methodologies help eliminate inequality and promote equality.

Picking a commissioner to become more transparent

Employers will be required to create conditions that consider and support all employees and their visible and invisible characteristics, such as age, skin color, mental disabilities or sexual identity. According to the draft law, working conditions must support equal opportunities for men and women, as well as employees of different ages, to perform all types of work. This might include modernizing equipment to ensure that physically demanding tasks can be performed by employees of different genders and ages.

Employers are also obligated to have data that provides a statistical overview of gender and age equality within their organization. This data should help assess the situation regarding the equality of women and men and equal opportunities for employees of different age groups.

Government institutions will be required to develop and implement a gender equality action plan, setting goals and metrics to evaluate its implementation. This action plan must be published on the institution's public website.

Landlords are not required to make structural improvements to create equal opportunities for people with disabilities when renting out properties. However, they cannot refuse consent for such improvements, such as changing the location of switches or the size of doorways.

The draft law specifies that the current gender equality and equal treatment commissioner will continue to work as the equality commissioner, who is an independent and impartial expert. The commissioner will continue to be served by an office, the structure of which the commissioner will determine. The selection and appointment of the commissioner will be defined in much greater detail to ensure transparency and minimize reliance on the discretion of the responsible minister.

The commissioner's responsibilities will expand to include advising individuals who suspect they have been discriminated against. This expansion is based on the commissioner's proposal, as this advice is already being provided in practice. To take a more active role in legal proceedings, the commissioner can go to court on behalf of a discriminated person to protect their rights in justified cases.

The existing Gender Equality Council will be replaced by the Equality Council, which will advise the government and have the authority to make proposals to align legislation with gender equality objectives. The Council can also commission analyses and studies and form working groups.

The amendment to the law will protect a larger number of individuals from unfavorable treatment and give them the right to turn to the equality commissioner, labor dispute committees or courts if necessary.

In recent years, the number of people contacting the equality commissioner has decreased, with 441 contacts in 2017 and 217 in 2022. Most complaints concerned gender, disability and nationality.

The workload of the commissioner's office is expected to increase significantly with the implementation of the law, leading to a potential resource shortage. To mitigate this risk, additional funding will be sought for the office starting in 2026, when the law is expected to come into force according to the draft.

The current state budget strategy does not account for the additional costs associated with the implementation of the law.

As of last year, there were nearly 119,000 people with disabilities living in Estonia. It is difficult to determine the number of LGBT+ individuals, as people may not want to disclose this information. However, according to a 2021 global survey, about 10 percent of people identify as LGB.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM) is awaiting proposals and opinions on the draft from relevant institutions until June 13.

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