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The UK Supreme Court is set to deliver a landmark ruling on the legal definition of a woman on Wednesday morning.
Five judges will rule on whether transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
The decision is in response to a challenge brought by campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS), over the inclusion of transgender women with GRCs in the 50 per cent female quota mandated for public boards in Scotland.
The group’s case agains the Scottish Government was rejected by judges in Edinburgh in 2022, and it is now appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.
The court's decision will have far-reaching implications for how sex and gender are legally defined and applied across various aspects of UK law. It will also likely effect the rights of transgender women to use single-sex spaces and services.
How could the ruling affect rights?
Although the outcome of today’s ruling will not directly change the Equality Act 2010, it will likely prompt calls for it to be revisited.
If the court rules in favour of campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS), it could impact whether transgender women with gender recognition certificates (GRC) can access single-sex spaces.
Amnesty International UK has intervened in the case and has previously said: “Legal gender recognition as it works now is essential for trans people to enjoy the full spectrum of human rights each of us is entitled to, and live free from fear of discrimination.”
Who is involved in the case?
The case is being fought between campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) and the Scottish Government.
FWS is appealing a decision made by a Scottish court to reject its challenge to the government’s inclusion of transgender women with a female gender recognition certificate (GRC) in its definition of a woman.
FWS is a gender-critical campaign group, which is partly funded by JK Rowling and has been backed by campaign group, Sex Matters.
FWS previously said that not tying the definition of sex to its “ordinary meaning” could have far-reaching consequences for sex-based rights.
The Scottish Government on the other hand, has said a GRC affected a “change in legal status”, and that someone with a GRC “becomes recognised as belonging to, or becoming, the sex of their acquired gender”.
Athena Stavrou16 April 2025 09:22
Supreme court judgement latest in series of challenges
The dispute first came to court in 2022, when For Women Scotland (FWS) challenged a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament.
The law stated that there should be a 50 per cent female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies, and included transgender women in its definition of woman.
FWS successfully challenged the law, prompting Scottish officials to issue guidance that the definition of "woman" included a transgender woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
FWS challenged this revised guidance again, but its challenge was rejected by a court in 2022.
However, it was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court, which will hand down its judgement today.
Athena Stavrou16 April 2025 09:05
Judges to hand down landmark ruling on definition of a woman
The Supreme Court is set to deliver a landmark ruling on the legal definition of a woman on Wednesday morning.
At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
The ruling comes in response to a challenge brought by campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS), over inclusion of transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) within the 50 per cent female quota mandated for public boards.
The court's decision will have far-reaching implications for how sex and gender are legally defined and applied across various aspects of UK law.
It will also likely effect the rights of transgender women to use single-sex spaces and services.
Athena Stavrou16 April 2025 08:58
English (US) ·