The terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) brought a series of challenges – including to the UK’s highest court – over the definition of "woman" in Scottish legislation mandating 50% female representation on public boards.
The dispute centres on whether someone with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
FWS has previously said not tying the definition of sex to its "ordinary meaning" could have far-reaching consequences for sex-based rights, as well as "everyday single-sex services" like toilets and hospital wards.
However, lawyers for the Scottish Government told the Supreme Court at a hearing in November that a person with a GRC is "recognised in law" as having changed sex. Justices at the UK’s highest court unanimously ruled in FWS’s favour.
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