Supreme Court UK ruling on definition of woman
Supreme Court ruling backing the biological definition of “woman” under the Equality Act has been described as an “abject humiliation” for the Scottish Government.
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 per cent female representation on public boards.
Supreme Court ruling backing the biological definition of “woman” under the Equality Act has been described as an “abject humiliation” for the Scottish Government.
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 per cent female representation on public boards.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, my name's Alexander Brown and I'm the Scotsman's West Coast correspondent and I'm here
00:05outside the Supreme Court where the women in Scotland have just won their appeal over the
00:09legal definition of a woman. Delivering his verdict, Lord Hahn said the predecessors to
00:14the Equality Act used definitions of biological sex and the gender reassignment was added later
00:20as a separate protective characteristic and this is a problem essentially. He explained that including
00:25people with a gender reassignment certificate in the same sex group would make the Equality Act read
00:32in an incoherent way. He said the Scottish Government had made a mistake, you probably can see the joyous
00:37scenes behind me, there's been lots of singing. I think it's really important to note that despite
00:41the cheers and the songs outside the court and the flags, Lord Hodge also portioned against seeing this
00:46as a victory from the inside. He talked about the discrimination faced by trans people, we'll have
00:51more reaction to it as it comes, which you can read at thescotsman.com.
00:57I have to pay a huge tribute to my co-director Marion here, especially Trina,
01:12because she was the one who insisted that this was our way to clarify the law and she kept pushing
01:18up and kept fighting. And who would have thought that, you know, seven years ago, Marion set up Women's Scotland
01:29with Trina and Magdalene, who could have been here to see this today. She could have been so, so delighted.
01:39And, um, we were in a really difficult place in Scotland then. We thought we were going to see
01:47rights for women rolled back and today the judges have said what we always believe to be the case,
01:54that women are protected by their biological sex, that sex is real and that women can now feel safe,
02:03that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme
02:12Court for this ruling.