The Supreme Court in Britain ruled on Wednesday that trans women do not fall within the legal definition of women under the country’s equality legislation. It could have far-reaching consequences on the operation of single-sex services like domestic violence shelters, as well as on equal pay claims. However, the five judges involved in the ruling emphasized that they were not commenting more broadly on whether trans women are women, saying it was not the role of the court to adjudicate on the meaning of gender or sex. Instead, the judgment is limited to the precise interpretation of language in the 2010 Equality Act, which aims to prevent discrimination. Some legal scholars had theorized that the court might refuse to rule and instead force his government to weigh in on a thorny and divisive issue.
