"Everyone knows what sex is and you can't change it" - Definition of a woman is based on biological sex, UK supreme court rules

Five judges at the highest civil court in the land unanimously ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, therefore excludes transgender people.

Susan Smith, left, and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland (Lucy North/PA)

The UK's Supreme Court has rule that a woman is someone born biologically female, excluding transgender people from the legal definition in a long-running dispute between feminist group, For Women Scotland and the Scottish government.

Today, Wednesday April 16, five judges at the highest civil court in the land were unanimous in their ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The decision set in stone the meaning of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 which does not include those who are transgender regardless of whether or not they hold a gender recognition certificate (GRC).

Several women's group that supported the appeal celebrated outside the court hailing the decision as a major victory in their effort to protect spaces designated for women.

“Everyone knows what sex is and you can’t change it,” said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, which brought the case. “It’s common sense, basic common sense and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have tried to deny science and to deny reality and hopefully this will now see us back to reality.”

The campaign group is financially backed by Harry Potter author, JK Rowling - who was famously embroiled in a controversy regarding transgender women.

Rowling came under fire for comments she made on Twitter, now X, when attempting to defend researcher, Maya Forstater.

At the time, Forstater had been waging an employment discrimination battle, as her contract with a think tank wasn't renewed following a series of anti-trans statements she had made. One comment read: "People should not be compelled to play along with literal delusions like 'transwomen are women.'

Rowling sided with researcher writing: "Dress however you please, call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"

While campaign group, For Women Scotland are celebrating the ruling as a victory, trans activists say the decision is a 'major set-back.'

This includes the UK's first trans judge, Victoria McCloud who said: "I think this will be the kicking-off point for a very enhanced push for over restrictions on the rights of trans people."

The former judge, who changed her legal sex more tan two decades ago, applied to intervene in the supreme court appeal but was refused.

Last year, McCloud quit her job, saying her position had become "untenable" because her trans identity was viewed as a "lifestyle choice or an ideology."

UK's first trans judge, Victoria McCloud

The Current NHS England laid out its guidance on the issue of gender definitions in a document in 2019 which says that "trans people should be accommodated according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use”.

The equalities watchdog said it will work “at pace to incorporate the implications of this judgment” into its updated code of practice for service providers and public bodies – which is expected to be laid before Parliament before the summer recess.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which covers England, Scotland and Wales, said it will also review “as a matter of urgency” guidance it issued in 2022 on single-sex spaces and “alert users to where guidance has been withdrawn or needs to be updated”.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland said while the ruling was not directly concerned with equality law in that part of the UK, “our initial view is that the judgment is likely to be deemed by our industrial tribunals and courts to be highly persuasive and, consequently, it is likely to be followed in cases where similar issues arise”.

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