Men Who Identify as Transgender Are Not Women, UK Supreme Court Rules

Women’s rights campaigners hailed victory for ’reality over paperwork' as For Women Scotland won a battle with government over the legal definition of a woman.

Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland, outside the Supreme Court in London on April 16, 2025. Lucy North/PA

The terms “woman” and “sex” in British law refer to biological women and biological sex and do not include men who identify as transgender, the UK’s Supreme Court has ruled in a landmark judgment.

The ruling makes clear that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate can be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate.”