by Sanchez Manning and Daniel Sanderson, The Times
The court will decide if the definition of ‘a woman’ includes those with gender recognition certificates, having implications on sex-based rights
The Supreme Court is to deliver its landmark judgment on exactly what a woman is defined as on Wednesday.
At one time, it would have been unthinkable that society would be engaged in a heated debate about how we define “a woman”, let alone that such an argument might find its way into the courts.
So, how did we get here?
When did the legal battle start?
The case centres on a relatively obscure piece of legislation passed by the Scottish government in 2018 to establish gender quotas for public boards, aimed at increasing the number of women sitting on them.
The crucial issue is who counts as a woman for the purposes of the quotas.
The legal battle started in 2021 when For Women Scotland, a gender-critical feminist organisation formed in 2018 by Marion Calder, Trina Budge, Susan Smith and Magdalen Berns, brought a judicial review against the Scottish government in the Court of Session over its definition of “woman” in the legislation.
For Women Scotland has become the most prominent of several grassroots gender-critical feminist organisations to have emerged in Scotland, with high-profile supporters including JK Rowling.
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