U.K. Supreme Court to settle legal definition of woman

Arguments began before the United Kingdom’s highest court on Tuesday in a case to legally determine if a male who identifies as transgender may be considered a woman under Scotland’s sex equality law.

Why does a court need to legally define “woman”? Scottish Parliament passed a 2018 law requiring that women make up half of all public government boards. The law further held that men with a certificate legally recognizing that they identify as women would be considered women under the representation quota. The advocacy group For Women Scotland argued that Parliament did not have the power to legally define the term “woman” and successfully appealed its case to the Supreme Court last year.

What are the opposing arguments? The brief filed by the women’s advocacy group cited verbiage in a 2010 anti-sex discrimination law that refers to terms such as “sex,” “female,” and “male” in a traditional way, setting a precedent on the legal understanding of sex. Sex is a biological state that’s determined in utero, the advocacy group’s lawyer said, according to courtroom reporting by the Associated Press.

The human rights organization Amnesty International intervened on behalf of the Scottish government last month, arguing against the use of biology as the foundation for legally defining sex. Legal sex recognition is a human right that's essential for transgender people to fully live their lives, the group argued in a court brief. Amnesty noted that the U.K.’s 2004 Gender Recognition Act legally recognized an individual’s self-determined gender identity. Case law established precedent for gender recognition certificates issued under the 2004 act to apply to all areas of life, including legally, the group’s brief argued. Amnesty argued that legal gender recognition is currently based on a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, rather than simply self-identification.

The hearing began on Tuesday and is scheduled to finish by Wednesday according to the court calendar. A ruling from the five-judge panel is then expected at a later date.