• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Fair Play For Women

Fair Play For Women

  • Prison
  • Sport
  • GRA
  • Language
  • Changing rooms
  • Resources ▼
    • Take action! Here’s how
    • Key facts
    • UK law
    • Science
    • Sex vs gender
    • Consultation submissions
    • Materials
  • About Us ▼
    • Review of 2022
    • Our aim
    • Our beliefs
    • Our spokeswoman
    • Our history and achievements
    • Our supporters
    • News
      • Newspapers
      • TV Interviews
      • Radio interviews
    • Contact
    • Donate
You are here: Home / Judicial Review / PRESS RELEASE: Scottish Court declares that “sex” has no fixed meaning in law, but biological sex still matters

PRESS RELEASE: Scottish Court declares that “sex” has no fixed meaning in law, but biological sex still matters

25th February 2022 by FPFW

The Scottish Government has won its court battle over the definition of “sex” in the Census. 

The Scottish Inner Court of Session has rejected an appeal by Fair Play For Women. The feminist group argued that the guidance is unlawful because the meaning of sex in law does not include any form of self-identification. 

The Scottish Government’s guidance accompanying the sex question will remain in place “If you are transgender the answer you give can be different from what is on your birth certificate. You do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).”

Dr Nicola Williams, Director of Fair Play For Women said

“We are disappointed with this ruling. It is bad news for the census and bad news for people in Scotland, especially women”. 

“People have always known what sex means. But activists have targeted the meaning of the word sex, conflating it with feelings of identity. The confusion they have sown has now penetrated our institutions, including the judiciary, as this judgement shows”.

In a written opinion issued today by Lady Dorrian, the appeal court has confirmed that the mean of the word “sex” in Scottish law is context specific:

“In our opinion the Lord Ordinary was correct to hold that there is no universal legal definition of the word “sex” which applied by default.”

“There are some contexts in which a rigid definition based on biological sex must be adopted”

“There are other contexts in which a rigid definition based on biological sex is not appropriate.”

Dr Williams said,

“We welcome the court’s recognition that a definition based on biological sex must be adopted wherever it confers status or important rights. Our view is that this always applies where the word “sex” is used in law. If sex is mentioned in law it’s because it matters beyond the individual. 

“Last Friday the appeal court in Scotland ruled that biological sex is what counts in improving women’s representation on public boards. It based this on what sex means in the Equality Act. Now the same court says sex in the Census Act can mean something different. 

“We know sex matters, and so do the courts. But they decided that it doesn’t matter in the census. We disagree. Collecting accurate data on sex is important and matters most to women and girls. It underpins the research and policies needed to combat sexism. How can public authorities monitor and assess policies in line with the protected characteristics without counting sex?”

“We won on this same question in the High Court of England and Wales, and Northern Ireland fell into line. So for most of the UK population, sex in the census means the sex you were born. The only exception to this if you have been granted a Gender Recognition Certificate. Scotland wants to be different and that’s bad news for all of us”. 

“The census is the basis of equality monitoring, and sex is a fundamental variable. It needs a clear meaning, in line with the Equality Act. Sex matters, including in the census, in Scotland, and everywhere else.”

The Scottish Census goes live on the National Records Scotland (NRS) website on Monday 28 February and will begin accepting Census returns ahead of “Census Day” on 20 March.

Dr Williams said “We are now considering the full judgment carefully before making any further decisions or steps”.

 

DONATE NOW

 

Notes for Editors:

The first instance judgement was issued on 17 February

Fair Play For Women was granted an appeal hearing on 23 February 

The appeal judgment was issued on 25 February

Nicola Williams is available for interview and comment. Contact by email: [email protected]

 

Filed Under: Judicial Review

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Biological sex
  • Children
  • Gender Identity
  • Male violence
  • Scottish GRA reforms
  • Silencing women
  • Policy guidance

Our materials

  • Our factsheets
  • Our short films and animations
  • Our memes
  • Our research

Our latest articles

  • World Athletics announcement is a game-changer
  • Our response to IPSO’s draft guidance on the reporting of sex and gender identity.
  • Transgender inclusion in sport is not ‘fair’ when all champions will be young adult males
  • Female-only sport: what does the law say?
  • A speech to the Spanish Senate on fairness in women’s sport

Archives

Footer

Prisons, crime and protecting women

  • The facts about transgender prisoners
  • Prisons timeline – how did we get here?
  • Karen White & prison review
  • Sex attacks in female prisons
  • Refuge shelters deeply worried
  • How do women in prison feel about sharing with transgender prisoners?
  • Can you believe what you read about sexual and violent crimes?
  • The judicial review of prisons policy
  • Factsheets

Sport and the human body

  • A progress report on the fight to restore fairness in female sport
  • Sport timeline: how did we get here?
  • Biological sex differences
  • Chromosomes, sex and gender
  • The science and statistics behind the transgender debate
  • Testosterone suppression in “elite athletes” – what do we know?
  • Safeguarding in sport still matters
  • Male inclusion leads to female exclusion
  • What you can do

Making policy and the law

  • Scottish government is forcing sex self-ID on whole of UK.
  • The Equality Act 2010 and women’s rights
  • GRA reform
  • Advice and guidance for policy makers
  • Changing room policy advice
  • What can I do now?
  • Take Action: Say NO to letting Sex Self-ID in through the back door.
  • Public opinion on the tension between women’s rights and trans demands

© 2023 · Fair Play For Women

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt out if you wish. Read More

Accept Decline Cookie Settings
I consent to the use of following cookies:
Cookie Declaration About Cookies
Necessary (2) Marketing (1) Analytics (4) Preferences (0) Unclassified (4)
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
Name Domain Purpose Expiry Type
wpl_user_preference fairplayforwomen.com WP GDPR Cookie Consent Preferences 1 year HTTP
YSC youtube.com YouTube session cookie. 52 years HTTP
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
Name Domain Purpose Expiry Type
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE youtube.com YouTube cookie. 6 months HTTP
Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
Name Domain Purpose Expiry Type
_ga fairplayforwomen.com Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. 2 years HTTP
_gid fairplayforwomen.com Google Universal Analytics short-time unique user tracking identifier. 1 days HTTP
vuid vimeo.com Vimeo tracking cookie 2 years HTTP
IDE doubleclick.net Google advertising cookie used for user tracking and ad targeting purposes. 2 years HTTP
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
Name Domain Purpose Expiry Type
_gat_UA-109881507-1 fairplayforwomen.com --- Session ---
GASessionCookie fairplayforwomen.com --- Session ---
rtc linkedin.com --- Session ---
_wpfuuid fairplayforwomen.com --- 11 years ---
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.
Cookie Settings