UK says equalities law defines women as only those born biologically female
The ruling excludes transgender women from the definition under the British Equality Act, but the court emphasised that it "does not remove protection from trans people".
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/16/uk-says-equalities-law-defines-women-as-only-those-born-biologically-female
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The ruling excludes transgender women from the definition under the British Equality Act, but the court emphasised that it "does not remove protection from trans people".
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/16/uk-says-equalities-law-defines-women-as-only-those-born-biologically-female
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00The UK Supreme Court has ruled that under the British Equality Act, a woman is defined as someone born biologically female.
00:10This means that transgender women would be excluded from this definition, even when they have a certificate that recognizes them as female.
00:18The case stems from a 2018 Scottish law requiring 50% female representation on boards of public bodies, which included transgender women in its definition.
00:29The Scottish campaign group for Women's Scotland, which had challenged the law, praised the ruling.
00:34It means there's absolute clarity in law regarding what a woman is.
00:38We know for sure now that we are referring to the biological sex class of women, and that when we see a women-only space, it means exactly that.
00:47Just women, no men, not even if they have a gender recognition certificate.
00:52Other feminist groups celebrated the ruling outside the court.
00:56Relief and joy, it's exactly what we were hoping for, that the Supreme Court would recognize that women are female, biological females, not men who have filled out form and got a certificate.
01:13Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicted with human rights laws.
01:22Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the UK and abroad.