'It does bring clarity' What decision means for public organisations

Wednesday's supreme court judgment on the legal definition of a woman will have significant implications across policy areas from sport, to prisons and the NHS.

- Amelia Gentleman

Wednesday's supreme court judgment on the legal definition of a woman will have significant implications across policy areas from sport, to prisons and the NHS. It will also impact how smaller organisations manage single-sex spaces and services.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it will publish a new statutory code of practice by the summer so that it can offer advice to public bodies and organisations about how they may need to revise their policies.

The supreme court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain. The unanimous judgment that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law should add clarity to a number of ongoing disputes over single-sex spaces.

Sport Kishwer Falkner, a member of the House of Lords and the chair of the EHRC, said the impact of the ruling on sport was "enormously consequential" and confirmed that it was the "correct interpretation" to conclude that those born as men could not take part in women's sport. She said sports organisations should read the judgment. "It does bring clarity, and helps them decide what they should do," she said.

Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, welcomed the ruling, adding that it removed legal uncertainty. "It protects women in places that really matter in sport, whether it's safe spaces, changing rooms or conduct in and around the field of play," Lord Coe said. In the ruling, Lord Hodge, the deputy president of the court, made it clear that some of Equality Act's provisions would only function properly if sex is interpreted as biological sex, and he named "women's fair participation" in sport as one relevant area.

The use of people's "certificated sex", acquired by a gender recognition certificate (GRC), rather than their biological sex in sport had led to an "absence of coherence", he said.