UK Supreme Court Rules ‘Woman’ Means Biological Female
The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a landmark judgment on how a woman should be defined in law.
The long-running legal challenge centres around how sex-based rights are applied through the UK-wide Equality Act 2010.
The judges were asked to rule on what that legislation means by “”sex”—whether biological sex or “certificated” sex as legally defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
In their ruling, the judges unanimously decided that the definition of a “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
Delivering the ruling at the London court on Wednesday, Lord Hodge said: “But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.
“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.
According to reports, the long-running legal challenge was brought by the For Women Scotland campaign group — who argue sex is biological, binary, and can’t be changed — against the Scottish government.
The case dates back to 2018 when the Scottish administration, led by then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, passed legislation to establish gender quotas to get more women serving on public boards.
It was eventually amended to count trans women with gender recognition certificates, confirming their female gender, as women for the purposes of the legislation.
Scottish courts ruled, and then upheld in the Scottish government’s favor, that sex is “not limited to biological or birth sex,” and must include those in possession of a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
But that was challenged in London’s Supreme Court by campaigners.
And, in its ruling Wednesday, the country’s highest court said the meaning of the terms “sex,” “man” and “woman” in the U.K.’s Equality Act must refer to “biological sex” — with any other interpretation deemed “incoherent and impracticable.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
