When he was a junior employment minister, John Fraser fought many of the Whitehall battles about the content of the most important part of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, concerning sex discrimination in employment. The Home Office had primary responsibility for steering the legislation through parliament, but the Department of Employment was also involved, and Michael Foot, as secretary of state, left the task mainly to Fraser.
If any politician is remembered for the great advances made by the groundbreaking new law, it is probably Roy Jenkins, who was then home secretary, while the role of the amiable and unassuming Fraser is largely forgotten.
