The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to sex, not self-ID or paperwork (gender-recognition certificates). This agreed with our legal interpretation. We have published new guidance and are in the process of updating our publications to reflect the judgment. We are also working to provide answers to the questions we're hearing from supporters and the media. We will publish these as soon as possible.

Ellen Pasternack

Biologist and think-tank researcher

Ellen is research manager at the think tank Civitas, and co-chair of the Women in Think Tanks forum. She has a PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Oxford, and has written on policy, culture, and biology – especially the biology of sex differences – for The Telegraph, The Spectator, The New Statesman, and others.

“Just as every human being has a height and an eye colour, every human being has a sex – male or female. What sex a person is matters in many contexts: medicine, sports, criminal justice, health and safety, and many more besides.

When we make it taboo to recognise a person’s sex, this invariably results in bad and unjust policy. Very often, it is the most vulnerable people in society who are harmed by this. We must retain clarity in the law on the basic biological fact of who is a woman and who is a man.”