What is a woman? The UK Supreme Court ruling

On April 16th, the Supreme Court in London ruled unanimously that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.

The ruling came in response to a legal dispute between the activist group For Women Scotland and the Scottish government over whether trans people with gender recognition certificates (GRC) identifying their gender as female were considered as having the sex of a woman.

For Women Scotland had argued that the sex-based protections in the Act should only apply to people born female and that sex is “immutable biological state”.

The judgment, which ran to more than 80 pages, found that “the concept of sex is binary” – there is a female and a male.

It went on to say that the legislation 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”.

The judgment has come as a blow to the transgender community, particularly to trans women who fear it will marginalise them further.

Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul explains the ruling and its implications.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and John Casey. 

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