The legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act relates to biological sex, the UK Supreme Court has ruled.
The landmark decision follows a long-running challenge brought by women's rights campaigners For Women Scotland (FWS) over the definition of "woman" in Scottish legislation mandating 50% female representation on public boards.
On Wednesday, five senior judges in London read out a summary of their decision on a complex case involving the definition of "sex", saying the definition of a woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act relates to "a biological woman and biological sex".
Central to the dispute was whether someone with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the Act.
The ruling will likely have far-reaching consequences for British legislation and a significant impact on the rights of transgender people to use single-sex services.
Lord Hodge said that while the decision of the Supreme Court was "unanimous", he and his fellow judges "counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another".
"The Equality Act 2010 gives transgender people protection not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender," he said.
"This is the application of the principle of discrimination by association.
"Those statutory protections are available to transgender people, whether or not they possess a gender recognition certificate."
Following the judgement FWS director Trina Budge said the ruling "clarifies women’s rights".
"This is absolutely a victory for women's rights. Now we have clarity of what women means in law," she said. "When know that when we see women's only spaces it means exactly what it says - no men."
Last edited:
