The UK Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that the term “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex, not gender identity or legal recognition, marks a pivotal moment in the country’s legal and cultural landscape. While the judgment may seem like the end of a long-contested debate, it is more accurately a recalibration ~ a redefinition of legal clarity in a space muddied by years of political, social, and judicial ambiguity. At the heart of this landmark case was a fundamental question: what does the law mean when it says “woman”?

The campaign group For Women Scotland, whose persistence propelled the issue to the highest court, argued for a “common sense” interpretation ~ womanhood as an immutable biological state. The Scottish government, in contrast, maintained that a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should confer legal sex “for all purposes.”

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The court’s decision leans decisively toward biological determinism. Lord Hodge,........

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