In a historic ruling on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom held that the Equality Act 2010 legal definition of “woman” refers to a biological woman and excludes transgender women from this category for the purposes of gender-based rights and representation.
Delivering the unanimous ruling, Justice Patrick Hodge said the terms “woman” and “sex” within the legislation needed to be defined on the basis of biological factors. “The unanimous ruling of this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 are references to a biological woman and biological sex,” he said.
The ruling was precipitated by a judicial review of a 2018 Scottish Act requiring public body boards to have at least 50% female members an Act which defined “women” and included transgender women. The court ruled that construing “sex” as certificated gender, and not biological sex, would result in contradictions within the protection of the law and undermine its coherence.
Justice Hodge explained, however, that the decision does not take away the rights of transgender people. He stressed that transgender people are still covered by the law under the feature of gender reassignment and are protected against direct and indirect discrimination, as well as harassment.
The court emphasized that the Equality Act was to offer protections based on defined group attributes, such as sex and gender reassignment, and that broadening the definitions might invalidate those group protections.
For Women Scotland, a women’s rights advocacy organization, hailed the ruling as a major triumph. “Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women,” read a statement from the organization, congratulating the court for vindicating their long-standing position.
