Britain’s top court ruled on Wednesday that the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of a woman is based on biological sex and does not include transgender people with gender recognition certificates.

The Supreme Court was ruling on a lawsuit brought by campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) against the devolved Scottish government in 2018 over its guidance that said a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate was legally a woman.

The judge said Wednesday’s decision was not “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”.

But transgender activists have expressed concern while women’s rights campaigners said the ruling would bring clarity to the question of who could access single-sex spaces, such as refuges and hospitals, across England, Wales and Scotland.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Equality act, lawsuit

The Equality Act protects individuals from discrimination based on nine characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment.

The law covers direct and indirect incidents, such as harassment or victimisation, across multiple areas like employment, housing, education and transport.

In 2018, the devolved Scottish government issued guidance to accompany a law designed to increase the number of women on public sector boards, stating that a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate was legally a woman.

Campaign group FWS challenged the guidance, arguing the Equality Act should only apply to biological sex, but lost the case in the Scottish courts. The group was granted an appeal last year.

Ruling and trans people

The Supreme Court judgement states the new interpretation will not “have the effect of disadvantaging” trans people, as they are still protected against discrimination under the characteristic of gender reassignment.

However it could change how the 2004 Gender Recognition Act and Equality Act interact, which has long been unclear, and affect what legal rights trans women have as women.

The Gender Recognition Act enables people whose gender identity does not correspond to the sex originally registered on their birth certificate to obtain a gender recognition certificate that provides legal recognition in their acquired gender.

The British government previously said the Gender Recognition Act was intended to change a person’s legal sex for the purposes of equality law.

In 2022, the government said it was still possible under the Equality Act to exclude trans people from single-sex services if there was a “proportionate” way to meet a genuine need.

Wednesday’s ruling could tighten restrictions on such spaces, like changing rooms, homeless shelters, hospital wards or hostels.

Speaking outside court, Susan Smith, co-director of FWS, said the ruling would make women feel safe, adding that Scottish ministers would have to “stop pushing faulty guidance into schools and hospitals”.

The question of trans access to single-sex spaces, as well as female categories of sport, has become a divisive issue across the world, with debate often flaring during election campaigns.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last year he disagreed with trans women being on all-female wards or refuges, but wished the issue to be resolved with “respect and dignity”.

Rights groups

Simon Blake, CEO of LGBTQ+ rights group Stonewall, said the ruling would be “incredibly worrying” for the trans community.

Activist group Scottish Trans said the ruling “undercuts” the Gender Recognition Act and accused the court of not listening to trans activists.

“Trans people need to be able to recover on hospital wards, use toilets, go swimming and access services just like anyone else,” said Vic Valentine, manager of Scottish Trans.

Amnesty International said the judgement had “potentially concerning consequences” for the trans community, but that the implications were not yet clear.

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.