Woman determined by biological sex!
London, Apr 16 (EFE).-
The British Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the term “woman” for the purposes of the Equality Act is to be determined by biological sex, concluding a long legal battle initiated by a women’s advocacy group disputing the definition adopted by the Scottish autonomous government.
In a unanimous ruling, the judges underlined that the decision should not be seen as a triumph for either party, since the Equality Act of 2010 also provides transgender people with protection against discrimination.
Nevertheless, the ruling is seen as a legal triumph by the women’s organization “For Women Scotland,” which challenged the Scottish government’s decision to include transgender women in the quota to balance the two genders in public positions.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” said the judges at the conclusion of a complex argument about the definition of a woman.
Members of For Women Scotland celebrated the ruling before the Supreme Court, in the London borough of Westminster, marking a success of their campaign that began in 2018.
The judge Lord Hodge, while reading the ruling, underlined that the 2010 Equality Act provides “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 ruling noted that a person with the so-called Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC, trans) in the female gender does not fall within the definition of “woman” under the Equality Act 2010, and therefore the legal position of the Scottish Government was incorrect.
The Scottish government argued that trans people with a GRC were entitled to sex-based protections and facilities, while For Women Scotland argued that they should only apply to people who are born female. EFE
vg/sc
