Top UK court: Legal definition of ‘women’ is ‘biological women’

Britain’s high court held that the term “women” refers only to “biological women” under the country’s equality laws in a landmark and unanimous ruling Wednesday.  

“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘women’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Deputy President of the Supreme Court Patrick Hodge said. 

The case was brought by a group called For Women Scotland, which argued that sex-based protections under Britain’s Equality Act should be based on biological sex.  

Although the ruling is facing pushback from transgender advocates, women’s groups are welcoming the decision, which they say will ensure that “services and spaces designated for women are for women.” 

“Everybody should be protected by the Equality Act,” the co-director of For Women Scotland, Susan Smith, said outside of the court, the New York Times reported. “This is not about prejudice or bigotry, as some people would say, it’s not about hatred for another community. It’s just about saying that there are differences, and biology is one of those differences, and we just need protections based on that.” 

A U.K. government spokesman said the court’s decision brings “clarity and confidence for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs,” the BBC noted.  

“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government,” the spokesman said.  

Author J.K. Rowling, an outspoken advocate for protecting female spaces, applauded the decision on X Wednesday morning. 

“It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK,” she said.