UK Supreme Court rules women in the Equality Act refers to biological sex

The UK Supreme says “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.

Handing down the verdict in a long-running legal dispute on the definition of a woman, Lord Hodge said: “Our unanimous decision is the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological women and biological sex, but I would counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups at the expense of another.”

This comes after the campaign group For Women Scotland took the Scottish Government to court after ministers issued guidance which said the definition of women could include trans women if they had a gender recognition certificate.

For Women Scotland campaigning outside the UK Supreme Court | Lucy North/Press Association

However, the UK Supreme Court now says ministers were wrong to issue this guidance, and said: “A person with a gender reassignment certificate in the female gender does not come within the definition of a ‘woman’ under the Equality Act 2010 and the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish ministers is incorrect.”

I said after “painstaking analysis” it concluded that including trans people with a gender recognition certificate a women would make the act read in an “incoherent way”.

In January the Scottish Government revealed it had spent £61,928 defending this court case, including £54,216.80 on counsel fees, £7,380 on court fees and £332 on other expenses.

Read more: For Women Scotland LIVE: UK Supreme Court rules unanimously that that 'sex' refers to biological sex

However the Supreme Court says the ruling does not disadvantage trans people, as they are still protected by the Equality Act 2010.

Lord Hodge described the trans community as a “vulnerable and often harassed minority” which experiences “discrimination and prejudice as they seek to live their lives with dignity”.

He added: “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 their acquired gender.”

Lord Hodge reads the verdict in the UK Supreme Court. | Press Association.

The judges in this case have now issued an 88-page ruling on their verdict, which says the concept of sex is binary, and although the word “biological” does not appear in the definitions of woman and man in the Equality Act 2010, “the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman.”

The ruling added: “These are assumed to be self-explanatory and to require no further explanation.

“Men and women are on the face of the definition only differentiated as a grouping by the biology they share with their group.”

This could have wide-ranging implications on a number of pieces of legislation, as well as various bills currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament.

Earlier this month it was revealed plans to criminalise misogyny had been paused in Holyrood while MSPs waited for the outcome of this court case.

This verdict brings an end to the long-running legal dispute between the campaign group For Women Scotland and the Scottish Government on whether or not trans women can be classed as women in law.

Read more: Supreme Court gender verdict on definition of a woman due - here's what it will mean

This stems from the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018, which sets legal targets for increasing the proportion of women on public boards.

The original act included trans women as women, including those who had not yet undergone gender reassignment surgery, but were planning to.

For Women Scotland campaigners outside the UK Supreme Court. | Lucy North/Press Association

In 2022, the same year Holyrood passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, For Women Scotland challenged this in the Court of Session and it was found to be unlawful as it dealt with matters that fall outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Following this, Scottish ministers issued new guidance which said the definition of “woman” is the same as it is under the Equality Act 2010 and said a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate is female.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission had supported the Scottish Government’s interpretation of the legislation, but said there were anomalies in the operation of the act which needed to be amended by parliament.

For Women Scotland yet again challenged this, but it was thrown out of the Court of Session. The group then appealed this to the UK Supreme Court.