THE Scottish Government has updated guidance on the gender balance of public boards following the Supreme Court judgment.
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act sparked the legal challenge from For Women Scotland (FWS) on the definition of a woman which led to the issue being heard in the UK’s highest court.
Initially, the guidance stated that transgender women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) or those living as women would count towards gender balance on public boards.
The 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which introduced GRCs, used the terms sex and gender interchangeably. It said a GRC meant someone "becomes for all purposes the acquired gender".
The anti-trans campaign group disagreed with this definition, and in 2022 took the Scottish Government to court. They initially lost a judicial review, but were then successful on appeal.
The Scottish Government then changed guidance to only include trans women with a GRC.
This led to FWS calling for a second judicial review, which they lost in December 2022.
The case then went to the Supreme Court, with judges ruling in April that women were defined by biological sex under the Equality Act 2010.
And now, the Scottish Government has updated the statutory guidance relating to public boards on its official website.
An update to the document reads: “The meaning of ‘woman’ for the purposes of the Act.
“There is no definition of ‘woman’ set out in the Act with effect from 19 April 2022 and 22 March 2022.
“By virtue of section 11 and section 212(1) of the Equality Act 2010 references in the Act to a ‘woman’ or to ‘women’ are references to a biological woman or women.”
In April, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced the Scottish Government would make the change to the guidance.
She added that the ruling had sparked “real anxiety” from trans and non-binary people.
“It is significant that the Supreme Court stated that their judgment that the rights of the trans community are enshrined in law and I want to reassure our trans community that you are valued and the Scottish Government is fully committed to protecting everyone’s rights and that includes your community,” she said.
Following the judgment, the Equality and Human Rights Commissions (EHRC) issued guidance that banned transgender people from using the toilets of their acquired gender.
The EHRC has since been forced to change part of the guidance amid a legal challenge of its interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling.
It rescinded guidance that stated it was “compulsory” for workplaces to provide single-sex toilets.
The Scottish Parliament, and more recently the House of Commons, have banned transgender people from using the toilets of their acquired gender following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Trans women were also banned from playing in women’s football and cricket teams.
