Equalities watchdog to issue new guidelines on gender after ruling
New guidance for public bodies on single-sex spaces will be issued, after the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) says it is "working at pace" to provide an updated code of conduct for services, including the NHS and prisons. The ruling could have implications for spaces such as hospital wards, changing rooms and domestic refuges.The case was brought by women's rights campaigners who challenged the Scottish government, arguing sex-based protections should apply only to people that are born female.
Five key takeaways from Supreme Court ruling
On Wednesday judges ruled that when the term "woman" is used in the Equality Act it means a biological woman, and "sex" means biological sex.This means a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) does not change a person's legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.The Supreme Court justices argued this was the only consistent, coherent interpretation.Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the organisation was "pleased" the judgment addressed "difficulties" it highlighted in its submission to the court.There is already Equality Act guidance which allows for women-only spaces, such as toilets, changing rooms and hospital wards in certain circumstances.But under the new ruling a person who was born male but identifies as a woman does not have a right to use a space or service designated as women only.That includes transgender women who have legally changed their gender and hold a GRC.The equality watchdog says it expects its updated guidance to be in place by the summer.The new guidance could also have an impact on women's sport, where the question over whether transgender women can participate has been a high-profile issue in recent years.Sports have tightened up rules around transgender athletes at the elite levels. Athletics, cycling and aquatics have banned transgender women from taking part in women's events.Other sports have put in place eligibility criteria. Earlier this month the English Football Association introduced stricter rules, but still allowed transgender women to continue to compete in the women's game as long as their testosterone was kept below a certain level.Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent campaigner for trans-rights, said: "This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.Trans rights campaigners have said they will be examining the judgment closely to decide on their next steps.The UK government has welcomed the "clarity and confidence" for women and service providers brought by the judgement.Health minister Karin Smyth said the government would be reviewing the ruling to "make sure we are fully compliant with it" and would be working with equality bodies to make sure organisations were fully compliant.She said the government was not interested in "so-called culture wars" and believed that everybody should have "their dignity and privacy and their rights respected"."I think now is the time to make sure that we look to the future, that rights are very clear for people and that service providers absolutely make sure they comply with the law," she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
42 minutes ago
- The National
Will the SNP's anti-nuclear energy policy survive?
Just take Wendy Wood, one of the founders of the National Party of Scotland – which later grew into the SNP. As early as 1953, the artist and Scottish independence campaigner was vocally against the nuclear power site Dounreay on the north coast of Caithness, which has been in the long process of being decommissioned since 1994. In the 1970s and 1980s, the wider anti-nuclear movement – which organised mass protests against the likes of Torness power station in East Lothian, which is set to close in 2030 – also had strong ties to pro-independence circles and the SNP. It's a link that has stood until today, with the wider Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) long backing Scottish independence. READ MORE: Former Sky Sports presenter banned from business for football betting scam The SNP, meanwhile, has itself had a long-standing commitment to block new nuclear projects through devolved planning powers. But Labour are pushing for nuclear energy to make a comeback across the UK, lumping pressure on the Scottish Government to do the same. On Tuesday, Keir Starmer promised there would be no more 'dithering' about backing nuclear power as the UK Government committed to the Sizewell C plant and the development of new small modular reactors (SMRs). The Prime Minister said the 'change of mindset' would help free the UK from reliance on international fossil fuel markets and prevent price spikes such as those in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Scottish Labour, of course, were at the ready with anti-SNP attack lines. 'A Scottish Labour government with Anas Sarwar as First Minister will end the SNP's ban on nuclear power which is blocking jobs and investment from being created in Scotland,' Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said. The SNP, for the time being, are not for moving. Acting Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said in response to the announcement that the Scottish Government will continue to focus on renewable energy not nuclear power. The party's energy spokesperson at Westminster, Dave Doogan, also hit out at the UK Government. "The evidence is clear that nuclear is extortionate, takes decades to build and the toxic waste is a risk to local communities – Scotland's future is in renewables, carbon capture and links to Europe, not more money for white elephants,' he said. But could that be changing? Polls certainly indicate that Scots aren't totally opposed to the idea of nuclear power. SNP supporters too – over half of the party's voters believe nuclear power should be part of Scotland's mix of clean energy generation, a poll suggested last month. The Opinium survey for the campaign group Britain Remade (which, to note, was founded by a former energy and climate adviser to Boris Johnson) found 57% of those who voted for the party in last year's general election believe nuclear power should be included in Scotland's energy mix to meet the 2045 net zero target. READ MORE: Palestinian shop 'abruptly evicted' from Edinburgh property after 12 years A total of 56% of Scots thought nuclear power should be part of Scotland's clean energy mix to meet the targets, while 23% disagreed, and 21% said they did not know. This isn't a totally new phenomenon, either. Ipsos polling in 2022 found that more of the Scottish public support the building of more nuclear power stations in Scotland (39%) than oppose it (32%). Meanwhile, an SNP source told The National last month that the party's stance on atomic energy is softening. 'The younger membership honestly couldn't give two shits about this sort of stuff,' they said. 'The younger membership are quite distant from CND.' The source also said that Labour continuing to pursue the Tory nuclear policy might eventually make the SNP stance appear 'dated' but predicted any changes in policy would come further down the line given the Holyrood election is in just a year's time. But will Scottish Labour's recent shock win in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election change things? Before last year's General Election, John Swinney scrapped the Nicola Sturgeon and Bute House Agreement-era 'presumption against' new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. Instead, going forward, the party said it would look at licenses on a "rigorously evidence-led, case-by-case basis". Will the party take this so-called 'pragmatic' approach with nuclear, too?
The National
42 minutes ago
- The National
UK's paternal leave system 'one of the worst in developed world'
THE UK's paternal leave system is 'one of the worst in the developed world', a parliamentary report has warned. The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), a cross-party group in the House of Commons, says that the system 'entrenches outdated gender stereotypes' and requires 'substantial change'. Introduced in 2003, statutory paternal leave allows new fathers to take up to two weeks of paid leave, with those eligible receiving £187.18 a week or 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower. The report states that it is 'completely out of kilter with the cost of living', as this comes to below half of the National Living Wage and real Living Wage, in addition to being below rates in other European countries. READ MORE:Woman jailed in Scotland for sharing 'monkey torture' videos online The committee has called the two weeks' leave 'completely out of step with how most couples want to share their parenting responsibilities'. In comparison, Sweden entitles parents to 480 days of parental leave, which can be split into 240 days each if it's a parental team of two. Ninety days are reserved exclusively for fathers. Fathers in the UK do not have day-one right to paternity leave, unlike mothers. Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, called current paternity entitlement in the UK 'woefully insufficient and outdated'. (Image:) 'I would urge the UK government to overhaul statutory leave to 4-6 weeks and increase the statutory pay of £187.18/week or 90%, which should be more comparative with the increase in the cost of living and energy costs.' she said. 'Paternity Pay has to reflect modern family challenges yet it seems out of touch. Increasing paternity pay would be one way to incentivise couples to have bigger families as fertility rates have declined in recent years.' The SNP MSP, who also serves as convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee in Holyrood, noted that the Scottish government provides a baby box for parents with new babies. The report suggests several recommendations, including calling on parliament to pave the way towards increasing paid statutory paternity leave to six weeks, which it calls a 'medium-term objective'. It recommends a phased introduction of increases to statutory pay across the system to bring rates for all working parents up to 80% or more of average earnings or the real Living Wage. The WEC's report also looks at reforming shared parental leave, which allows up to 50 weeks of a mother's statutory leave and 37 weeks of her pay entitlement to be transferred to the father/co-parent within the first year. While beneficial to those who can access it, it is not universal, with the report urging that the scheme be made accessible to self-employed fathers. It also calls the shared parental leave system 'extremely difficult for most parents and their employees to understand.' Campaigners from The Dad Shift, who call for improved paternity leave in the UK, are set to picket outside Holyrood and in London on Wednesday afternoon.
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
SNP opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland 'makes no sense', claims Ed Miliband
Scotland has just one remaining nuclear power plant still generating electricity, with a further two currently being decommissioned. The SNP's refusal to allow new nuclear power stations to be built in Scotland "makes no sense", the UK Energy Secretary has said. Ed Miliband said today Scots will miss out on a "golden age of nuclear" after Labour ministers signed-off a £14.2 billion investment in the Sizewell C nuclear plant in south-east England. Scotland has just one remaining nuclear power plant still generating electricity, with a further two currently being decommissioned. SNP ministers have repeatedly refused to consider allowing the construction of replacement nuclear plants since winning power at Holyrood in 2007. Scottish Labour MP Gregor Poynton today claimed the policy had cost workers and taxpayers north of the border 'billions of pounds of investment and thousands of high-skilled jobs'. But SNP MP Kirsty Blackman described the UK Government's new £14.2 billion investment into Sizewell C in Suffolk as a 'splurge'. Miliband said the Sizewell development will 'power the equivalent of around six million homes with clean homegrown energy for 60 years, and it will be a jobs and growth engine for Britain, supporting 10,000 jobs in the peak construction and creating 1,500 apprenticeships'. It is one of several nuclear projects which the UK Government has backed, which also include a prototype fusion plant at West Burton, Nottinghamshire, and a partnership between Rolls-Royce and Great British Energy – Nuclear to rollout small modular reactors. Poynton, MP for Livingston, told the Commons: 'Scotland was once a pioneer in nuclear energy and should be again, but due to the SNP Scottish Government's outdated, backward, quite frankly bizarre opposition to nuclear energy, turning away billions of pounds of investment and thousands of high-skilled jobs. 'So, does the Secretary of State agree with me this is yet another way the SNP Scottish Government has lost their way?' Miliband replied that Mr Poynton was 'so right', and added: 'People in Scotland will be looking at these announcements and saying, 'well why isn't it us that are benefitting from this? Why are we not even in the race?'' Lillian Jones, the Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, criticised the position as an 'ideological block on nuclear power, blocking billions in investment, blocking thousands of well-paid, secure Scottish jobs, and blocking growth'. In his response, Miliband said: 'We can announce a golden age of nuclear with our investments but not in Scotland, because of the position of the SNP Government. It makes no sense.' Blackman had earlier said: 'This £14 billion splurge on English nuclear power plants comes on top of £22 billion for English carbon capture and storage, while there's nothing for Scotland's Acorn project. 'With Grangemouth allowed to close, with a fiscal regime that is ruining north-east energy jobs, this latest announcement shows that Scotland isn't just an afterthought, it isn't a thought at all. 'If nearly £40 billion can be found for English energy projects, why is it that money is never found for Scotland's carbon capture project?' Miliband replied: 'Well look, I think maybe there is an SNP change in position coming. If she wants to have a conversation about Scottish nuclear power stations, then absolutely. 'We're in favour of the Acorn project and we'll be saying more about this in the coming weeks. 'But let me just say to her – on nuclear power, they've really got to think again. 'They are absolutely sticking their heads in the sand when it comes to this. This is about jobs, it's about investment, it's about clean energy, they should really rethink.' In an earlier statement, Miliband said: 'The Government is taking decisive steps today to usher in a new golden age of nuclear for Britain.' He added: 'For too long, our country has not made the crucial energy – or indeed other infrastructure investments – we need. A short-sighted failure to invest for which the British people have paid the price in lower living standards, insecurity and declining public services. 'This week's announcements symbolise a decisive change in approach, to invest in the future – the right choice for energy security, the right choice for jobs, the right choice for climate and our children and grandchildren, the right choice for Britain, investment, not decline. 'This Government has made its choice.'
