On April 16, 2025 the UK Supreme Court established through its ruling that only people assigned female at birth fit under the Equality Act 2010 definition of "woman" thereby preventing the inclusion of transgender women including those with Gender Recognition Certificates.
For Women Scotland initiated legal action against the Scottish government's 2018 Gender Representation on Public Boards Act once the legislation adopted transgender women as a part of its "woman" definition to boost female public board membership. The Supreme Court revealed complete agreement that the Scottish government surpassed its legislative boundaries and violated the Equality Act guidelines through this decision.The ruling confirms that sex and womanhood according to the Equality Act mean biological sex but transgender people keep their protection against gender reassignment discrimination under the Act's provisions.
The judgment received split reactions from public opinion. The legal challenge receives financial support from author J.K. Rowling who believes it ensures the protection of sex-based rights for women. The transgender rights movement and Amnesty International alongside other human rights organizations feel the ruling may compromise the recognition rights of transgender persons thus creating additional barriers for their inclusion in gender-specific spaces. The court decision will have substantial effects on future regulations about gender identity and sex-based rights throughout the United Kingdom that might bring demands to modify existing gender recognition laws because of case-derived complexities.