Top judge says groups may be misinterpreting’ ruling on definition of a woman

Former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption has warned that organisations are potentially misinterpreting the landmark ruling that defined women by biology earlier this week.

- DAVID MADDOX

Lord Sumption told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that, contrary to much of the commentary on the Supreme Court ruling, judges did not take a side and did not provide an obligation to create single sex spaces.

The ruling has been interpreted by many as an exclusion of trans women from single-sex women’s spaces.

The ruling followed a legal challenge against the Scottish government by the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) over the definition of “woman” in Scottish legislation mandating 50 per cent female representation on public boards.

Lord Sumption’s comments come after Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, suggested that she would pursue NHS trusts which did not protect single-sex wards.

Instead, Lord Sumption argued that while many have taken the ruling to mean that service providers are obliged to provide single-sex spaces based on biological sex, the ruling meant that excluding transgender people from single-sex spaces was allowed, and not a breach of the 2010 Equality Act.