The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the definition of a woman and sex in the Equality Act relates to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
UK Supreme Court judge Lord Hodge, who announced the decision, made clear that this was not a victory for either side, stressing that the law gives trans people protection against discrimination.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” he said. “But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another.”
The ruling follows a series of challenges brought by the campaign group, For Women Scotland (FWS), over the definition of “woman” in Scottish legislation mandating 50% female representation on public boards. But the outcome of the case will have an impact on the whole of the UK after the years-long legal battle ascended to the Supreme Court.
The case centres on whether or not somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act. FWS has previously said not tying the definition of sex to its “ordinary meaning” could have far-reaching consequences for sex-based rights, as well as “everyday single-sex services” like toilets and hospital wards.
BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here – Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn.
POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror’s Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox.
PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
However, lawyers for the Scottish Government told the Supreme Court at a hearing in November that a person with a GRC is “recognised in law” as having changed sex. In a ruling on Wednesday, justices at the UK’s highest court unanimously ruled in FWS’s favour. Lord Hodge, sitting with Lords Reed and Lloyd-Jones alongside Ladies Rose and Simler, said the “central question” is how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the 2019 Equality Act.
During the hearing in November, Aidan O’Neill KC, for FWS, told justices the Scottish ministers’ position that sex, man and woman in the Equality Act refer to “certificated sex” – as the sex on a person’s birth certificate whether or not amended by a gender recognition certificate (GRC) – is “just wrong and should be rejected by the court”.
But Ruth Crawford KC, for the Scottish Government, said a person who becomes a woman “in consequence of a GRC” is entitled to those protections “just as much as others enjoy those protections who are recorded as a woman at birth”. She also said the “inevitable conclusion” of the FWS challenge, if successful, is that trans women with GRCs would “remain men until death for the purposes of the Equality Act”.
A Government spokesman said: “We have always supported the protection of single sex spaces based on biological sex. This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs. Single sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”
Get UK politics insight with our free daily email briefing straight to your inbox