Supreme Court rules definition of woman is based on biological sex

The UK’s highest court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the 2010 Equality Act is based on biological sex.

The Supreme Court determined that the legal definition of a woman does not include transgender women who have a gender recognition certificate (GRC), as the Scottish government had argued to the court.

The author JK Rowling, who financially backed the gender critical campaign group which brought the case, welcomed the decision and said it “protected the rights of women and girls across the UK”.

The campaign group Scottish Trans said the decision “reverses 20 years of understanding” of how the law recognises trans women, and men, with a GRC.

The deputy president of the Supreme Court stressed in his summary of the ruling that trans people still had clear legal protections under the Equality Act.

Although the full implications of the court’s decision aren’t clear yet, it is likely to have significant consequences for access to sex and gender specific spaces in the UK.