A feminist group has lost a court appeal over the legal definition of the word woman.
Campaigners For Women Scotland (FWS) raised concerns over the definition of the word “women” in the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2018, saying that the use of the term was an attempt to override the Equality Act 2010 back in 2021.
The legislation, which was passed two years ago, aimed to increase the number of women on public boards.
In the Act, they used the term “woman” to represent both born women and trans women, or those who “live as women”, which FWS says was legally incompetent.
For Women Scotland argues that trans women are biologically male, and should be recognised as such in the equality act.
But the inner house of the Court of Session has thrown out the challenge, arguing that a person with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) is legally their acquired gender and possesses both the protected characteristic of gender reassignment and of sex.
[A] statement on the For Women Scotland website read: “Naturally, we are hugely disappointed in today’s judgment, which has ruled that women’s protections under law may – in some cases – include men who have obtained a GRC.
“We are obviously still analysing the decision and will be speaking to our legal team in due course to consider the possibility of a further challenge.
Source: Feminist campaign group loses legal battle over definition of word ‘woman’