A ‘sex-based’ occupational requirement to be a woman under Schedule 9 cannot include transgender women who have not obtained a GRC.
You can read the full guidance HERE.
We have been calling for this guidance for a long time. We have been reporting rogue employers each time they misuse the law by advertising for ‘self-identifying women’ to fill women-only roles.
In March this year the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) promised to publish new guidance. From now on no employer can say it didn’t understand the rules.
This new guidance that makes clear men who self-identity as women are not female and should not be recruited as such. This makes it fairer on the women who apply and the people who rely on a woman being in that role for reasons of privacy, dignity and safety.
However this new guidance also says men who change their legal status to female by obtaining a GRC can be recruited into a female role.
This highlights the absurdity of a law that expects a woman to waive her need for privacy or safety simply because a man gets a certificate.
The new Labour Government wants to make it even easier for men to get these certificates.
This is why the new Prime Minister must take seriously calls to clarify that sex means biological sex in the Equality Act. Otherwise when you next ask for a women to perform your intimate exam you might get a man with a certificate doing it.
This new guidance is a step in the right direction. It bars the majority of men who identity as women from getting jobs reserved for women. Most transgender males do not have a GRC. But it leaves open a loophole for a small number to access these jobs with a GRC. More progress is needed before this is truly fair on women.