Women’s rights: Single-sex spaces to be protected as part of major equality law revamp
The Government is considering a major overhaul of equality laws in a bid to prioritise women’s rights and biological sex over gender identity.
Britain’s human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), submitted a 310-page revised version of its Statutory Code of Practice to the Government last week.
The proposed changes would protect women-only spaces and require transgender people to routinely present Gender Recognition Certificates.
Organisations would also be compelled to define the difference between sex and gender under the plans.
The guidance, last amended in 2010, is now considered “out of date” by the EHRC.
The proposed changes would protect women-only spaces and require transgender people to routinely present Gender Recognition Certificates (file photo)
GETTY
A trans protest sign (file photo)
GETTY
The overhaul comes after several high-profile legal cases brought under the Equality Act, including that of Maya Forstater in 2021.
An employment tribunal ruled that her belief that trans women are not real women “must be protected” under the Act, setting a new legal precedent.
Forstater had been dismissed from her job after expressing gender-critical views on social media.
Another case involves nurses at the Darlington Memorial Hospital who are suing their employer for sexual discrimination and harassment.
The NHS Trust allowed a biological man who identifies as a woman to use female changing rooms – despite not having a Gender Recognition Certificate.
A Government source told The Telegraph the changes “will transform the weather” on sex and gender issues.
Last year, EHRC chairwoman Baroness Falkner identified some 400 instances where the Equality Act had been misinterpreted.
Baroness Falkner, chairman of the EHRC
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
If implemented in full, the revised code is expected to put the Government on a collision course with activist groups such as Stonewall, which has fought for trans people to be allowed into single-sex spaces.
The code could be presented to Parliament before the summer recess.
But Government sources have counselled caution – and said Ministers have not yet fully digested the revised code and that a timetable for implementation is still yet to be set out.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that single-sex spaces should be protected.
The code could be further updated depending on the imminent Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers.
This landmark case, due for ruling on Wednesday, concerns whether sex-based protections should only be afforded to those born as women.
