The United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled on the definition of a human female following a contentious court case.

The high court held that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex rather than gender identity. Lord Patrick Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, reportedly said that five Supreme Court justices had unanimously decided that “the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to a ‘biological woman and biological sex.'”

The Deputy President recognised “the strength of feeling on both sides’ and cautioned against seeing the judgement as a triumph for one side over another, stressing that the law still gives trans people protection against discrimination.”

 

The legal controversy arose from a dispute between two entities in Scotland. The Scottish government had argued that transgender individuals with gender recognition certificates (GRC) are entitled to the legal protections women enjoy, while For Women Scotland argued the protections only apply to born females.

“This has been a really, really long road,” Susan Smith, the co-founder of For Women Scotland, said. “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.”

She added, “Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”

Edinburgh-based Scottish Trans posted to BlueSky, “We’d urge people not to panic – there will be lots of commentary coming out quickly that is likely to deliberately overstate the impact that this decision is going to have on all trans people’s lives. We’ll say more as soon as we’re able to. Please look out for yourselves and each other today [heart emoji, trans flag emoji omitted.]”

The British ruling contrasts with some statements made by the then-United States Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing to replace Justice Stephen Breyer in March 2022.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asked President Joe Biden’s nominee, “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”

Jackson responded, “I’m not a biologist.”

A flurry of media coverage swirled around the exchange, with the legacy corporate press largely defending Jackson’s statement. “Blackburn was displeased, but experts say Jackson’s answer was scientifically sound,” USA Today reported at the time.

Related debates have continued to define American politics, even after Jackson was confirmed. A little over a year later, Senator Ted Cruz would spar with Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, over whether there was a difference between men and women during a hearing on NCAA rules.