The question about the definition of women was present in the 2024 electoral debates, but in the meantime almost disappeared from the political agenda after the victory of the Labor Party
British writer JK Rowling said on Wednesday that women’s rights are protected in the UK, after the Supreme Court decided that the legal definition of women is based on biological sex.
“It took three extraordinary and tenacious Scottish women, with an army behind them, for this case to be heard by the Supreme Court and, when they won, protected the rights of women and girls throughout the United Kingdom,” the author of the “Harry Potter” saga, regularly accused of ‘transphobia for the positions in relation to transsexuals.
It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. , I’m so proud to know you 🏴💜🏴💚🏴🤍🏴
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling)
The British Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 equality law refer to one,” the agency vice president, Patrick Hodge, said.
However, he stressed that the judgment should not be seen as a defeat by LGBT+rights activists, as “the 2010 Law of Equality gives protection to transgender people, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender change, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in its acquired genre.”
The case concludes a long dispute between a Women’s Rights Defense Organization and the Scottish government, which argued that a transgender person with a gender recognition certificate as a woman could be considered a woman under the laws of equality.
The organization that filed the appeal, for Women Scotland (FWS), claimed that the results could have consequences at the entire UK regarding sex -based rights as well as services such as bathrooms and hospitals wards.
The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament to establish a 50% female representation in the administration councils of Scottish public bodies.
This law included transgender women in the definition of women.
The Women’s Rights Group successfully contested this law, arguing that the redefinition of “woman” surpassed the powers of the Regional Parliament.
The Scottish executive then issued guidelines that the definition of “woman” included a transsexual woman who had a gender recognition certificate.
The defense was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group obtained authorization last year to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
The Women’s Rights Defense Group featured supporters with JK Rowling, which will have donated tens of thousands of pounds and has obtained with vehement that the rights of transgender people should not be granted at the expense of women.
Founded in 2018, the organization describes itself as “a group of women who work to protect and reinforce the rights of women and children,” but critics consider it transphobic.
On the opposite side, LGBT+ organizations and the non-governmental organization amnesty International argued that preventing transgender people who have a certificate of recognition of sex from benefiting from protection against sexual discrimination is contrary to the principles of human rights.
The question about the definition of women was present in the electoral debates of 2024, but in the meantime almost disappeared from the political agenda following the victory of the labor party.
In 2022, the Scottish government passed a law to facilitate gender change, allowing it to do so without medical advice and from the age of 16.
Faced with the controversy, the law was eventually blocked by the Central Government of London, when conservatives were still in power.
In January 2023, the Scottish authorities had to announce the suspension of the transfer of any transgender prisoner with antecedents of violence against women to a women’s prison after two cases shocked public opinion.
