The UK’s highest court has ruled that a woman is someone born with female genital organs and that sex means biological sex— gender at birth. 

Justice Patrick Hodge and four other justices of the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a unanimous ruling that recognised women as persons born female, ending a fierce debate dating back to 2018 about women and trans women rights.

The Scottish Parliament passed a law in 2017 for equal female representation, pushing for 50 per cent women which included trans women at all levels of government agencies and boards. 

For Women Scotland (FWS), a women rights group, opposed the law, arguing it was not fair to naturally conceived women.

They argued that the law may have no effect on organisations’ boards which may still comprise 50 per cent men and 50 per cent men who changed their sex to become trans women. FWS challenged the interpretation of women and sex in court.

“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise 50 per cent men, and 50 per cent men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation,” argued FHS director, Trina Budge. 

“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” said FWS lawyer, Aidan O’Neill. “It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”

Amnesty International, a defendant in the case, countered that FWS sought to cripple the rights of trans women and that such exclusion might be counted as discrimination against the transgender community.

“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim,” Amnesty International asserted.

The UK top judges agreed with FWS’ argument that the gender at conception determines how a person will be recognised by the government.

“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,” Lord Hodge said on Wednesday.

He added, “Therefore, a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate in the female gender does not come within the definition of a ‘woman’ under the Equality Act 2010 and the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish ministers is incorrect.’’

The ruling, however, included a clause that recognises transgender as a minority who should not be preyed upon.

“The ruling does not change the protection trans people are afforded under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’,” said Lord Hodge. 

Author of the popular Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling, supported the FWS with tens of thousands of pounds and long advocated that transgender women, in their quest for equality, need not trample on the rights of persons born biologically female.