The UK Supreme Court has made a major ruling: under the Equality Act 2010, the term “woman” legally refers only to a biological female. That’s the takeaway from an 88-page judgment handed down on April 16, following a two-day hearing last year.
Supreme Court judge Lord Hodge stated, “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.” The case was brought by For Women Scotland, a gender-critical group reportedly supported by author J.K. Rowling, and challenged an earlier ruling that said “sex” wasn’t limited to biology.
The central question: does a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate count as a “woman” under UK equality law? The court answered: no. Judges ruled that while trans people are still protected under the category of gender reassignment, the “sex” category is strictly biological.
In other words, the legal rights and spaces reserved for women, like hospital wards, sports, and crisis shelters—can now be based on biological sex, not legal gender. Lord Hodge emphasized the decision isn’t meant to be a “triumph of one group over another,” and that trans people still retain protection from discrimination.
Still, the ruling has left many LGBTQ advocates in the UK and abroad deeply concerned. Critics say this could erode hard-fought rights and access to safe spaces for trans people, especially trans women.
