Supreme Court ruling to shape Britain's legal gender definitions

    
• The Supreme Court in London will decide whether the definition of a woman includes transgender individuals with a gender recognition certificate.
• The dispute began after the Scottish government passed a gender balance bill in 2018.
• The ruling could affect the application of the 2010 Equality Act.

The Supreme Court in London is set to announce a ruling on the definition of a woman in British law. The dispute is about whether transgender individuals with a gender recognition certificate should be recognized as women. The Scottish government supports this definition, while activists from the organization For Women Scotland oppose it.

In 2018, the Scottish government passed a bill aimed at increasing the number of women in senior positions in public institutions. Activists opposed the inclusion of transgender people in these quotas.

Our submission is that the court should find in favour of (For Women Scotland)... that in the Equality Act, ... as that word and the words woman and man are understood and used in ordinary, everyday language, used every day in everyday situations by ordinary people, said lawyer Aidan O’Neill, as quoted by Scotish Daily Express.

The Supreme Court's decision will be crucial for the application of the 2010 Equality Act, which protects against discrimination based on gender transition. The court will decide whether a person with a document recognizing their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the Equality Act.

British judiciary estimates that there are about 8,000 people with gender recognition certificates in the United Kingdom. The case concerns only these individuals, not those who self-identify their gender.

The Supreme Court's ruling could affect the operation of institutions and services designated for a single gender. The decision will have significant consequences for the rights of transgender individuals in the United Kingdom.