Transgender: Definition of Woman is Biological – UK Supreme Court Rules

 

The United Kingdom, UK, Supreme Court has given a ruling on the definition of woman.

 

In a ruling on Wednesday, the court said a woman under the country’s equality law refers to biological sex.

 

According to New York Times, the British court declared that transgender women do not fall within the legal definition of women under the country’s equality legislation.

 

The Deputy President of the court, Lord Hodge, made this known in a summary of the decision.

 

He noted that the unanimous decision of “this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological women and biological sex.”

“We counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another; it is not,” he added.

 

He, however, said the ruling “does not cause disadvantage to transgender people,” stressing that they have protections under anti-discrimination and equality laws.

 

Recall that the landmark judgment follows a yearslong legal battle over whether trans women can be regarded as female under the 2010 law, which aims to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, and other protected characteristics.