Supreme Court decision on the Equality Act 2010

On 16th April 2025, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgment which clarifies that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The decision comes after the Scottish government included transgender women to sit on public-sector boards, in places which were designated for females only, to ensure a numbers balance of men to women, for fairness. Scottish campaign group For Women Scotland argued that this should apply only to female-born women. As such, the court had to consider what the legal definition of ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ is, for the Equality Act 2010.

The Court clarified the position and stated that ‘woman’ has a ‘binary’ meaning and as such, only people born as a female can have the protection of the Act.  Therefore, a transgender woman, by changing her gender from male to female and obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate, will not be protected by the Act. Biological females only can be defined as being a ‘woman’.

This decision will have a huge effect on the transgender community who are likely to find it harder to use female-only facilities and spaces, and to participate in female activities and sports.

Whilst the law has clarified the definitions of ‘woman’ and ‘sex’, which will no doubt help to stop recent incidents of men falsely appearing to be transgender, to avoid, for example, men’s prisons, and other such abuses, it will also impact hugely the lives of genuine transgender people.

Whilst transgender people have protection against discrimination under the Act, it would not be surprising if we see a rise in discriminatory occurrences as a result of the decision.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court was clear that this decision should not be seen as a victory for those in favour of the decision, but whilst clarity has been given to the Act, it is not hard to foresee many difficulties arising for transgender people.

Employers need to consider what facilities will be provided for transgender employees, and customers, to avoid inadvertent discriminatory practices.

Moore & Tibbits are here to assist with making sure your company policies and practices do not discriminate against transgender people. 

We can support transgender people to ensure they are not treated in a discriminatory manner.

Contact our team on employment@moore-tibbits.co.uk or call 01926 491181 to speak to our team.