The UK Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether trans women should be classified as women under the Equality Act. This ruling could significantly impact how gender is legally defined in Britain moving forward.
Last year, Scotland’s Supreme Court ruled that transgender individuals who identify as women must be included in laws aimed at improving gender balance in public boards, alongside biological women. Women’s Organization For Women Scotland challenged this, arguing that only biological women should count in such legal definitions, fearing it could undermine women’s rights.
The case now before the UK Supreme Court centers on whether the 2010 Equality Act should recognize legally recognized trans women as women. Since 2004, the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) has allowed transgender people to change their legal gender, and this was expanded in 2022 to remove the need for a medical diagnosis. The court must decide if this recognition should apply under the Equality Act as well.
For Women Scotland’s representative, Aidan O’Neill, argued that the meaning of “woman” should remain tied to biological sex to protect women’s rights, which he said are threatened by “biological denial.” He warned that redefining womanhood in non-biological terms could allow trans women to access women’s spaces, something he claimed undermines the legal protections for women.
The case has sparked heated debates, with critics calling the women’s group “transphobic.” Ruth Crawford, representing the Scottish Parliament, defended the GRA, emphasizing that those who legally change their gender should be afforded the protections of their identified gender.
The ruling, expected in a few weeks, could have far-reaching consequences for the definition of gender in UK law.4
