Three cheers for For Women Scotland
Biological reality is back! After today’s fantastic victory for women's rights in the UK Supreme Court, the onus is on us to make it more than just a legalistic piece of paper.
It feels ridiculous that, as a society, we have to thank the Supreme Court for re-establishing biological reality. We all know what a woman is, but stating the bleeding obvious has in recent years been enough to get many good people cancelled, their reputations dragged through the mud as they are routinely demonised as bigots. And for women, single-sex spaces have been compromised by the presence of men. All because unclear laws, a cowardly political class and an array of institutions flaunting their ‘progressive’ trans-inclusive policies have allowed the presence of piece of paper – a gender-recognition certificate – to be enough to overthrow biology and common sense.
So, when Lord Hodge, the deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, read – in a deadpan, serious tone – the words ‘Read fairly, references to sex in this provision can only mean biological sex. People are not sexually oriented towards those in possession of a certificate’, I fist-pumped and cheered. (You can read the full judgement and case summary in For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers here.)
Without being churlish, and while delighted that today biological reality is confirmed in UK law, I resent needing to thank the judiciary for this victory. Every word of the unanimous, unequivocal court ruling shouldn’t have needed saying. Sex is binary and immutable. A woman is an adult human female and would have been even if the court had stated otherwise. You shouldn’t need a landmark ruling to know and be safe to state that men cannot be lesbians; that is true no matter what any court rules. And while today I may thank the lord for sensible Supreme Court justices, it shouldn’t undermine another reality. Women’s rights – all rights – need to be fought for, from bottom up. And that is what has happened here.
When it comes to thanks, those really should be reserved for the courageous grassroots campaign For Women Scotland, started by Susan Smith, Marion Calder and Trina Budge. (Watch Susan and Marion in action at the Battle of Ideas festival below.) As eloquently explained by Susan Dalgety earlier today, they have ‘sacrificed the last eight years of their lives – and often their families’ – to prove, once and for all, that sex is immutable, that being female is not a choice, or an identity, but a biological fact’. But I mainly know these valiant and gutsy women as tireless campaigners, not legal scholars, part of a huge and growing network of organisations and individuals who have forced this issue onto the agenda.
We at the Academy of Ideas have tried to help where we can, but I have looked on in awe at the solidarity, organisational prowess, passion and dedication of these campaigners, who have today shown the world that activism matters; you can change the public mood and even the law if you have the guts to fight back.
But oh, such madness that so much time, energy, money and emotion has been expended on this elite, top-down, hijacking of reality and our rights over the past decade.
Those campaigners now need time to celebrate and lap up the plaudits and no doubt catch up on lost sleep. But we now must all help by ensuring we use this Supreme Court judgment to take on all those institutions, local councils, schools, universities, NHS trusts, sports bodies, service providers, professional associations, trade unions and news media who will need schooling on what this must mean for their discriminatory, anti-women policies. If someone is a man/male, however they identify, having a gender-recognition certificate doesn't entitle that person to be in a woman's single-sex spaces.
We need to strip out the poison of divisive identity ideology from public and private bodies, and the way it has been used to chill free speech. But we also should avoid using the law as a stick to beat opponents or a crutch to avoid that hard work of winning arguments. We need to carry on persuading, engage in public debate and talk, especially to younger generations who – let’s be honest – our generation has socialised into believing that there is something progressive about the assertion that anyone is ‘born in the wrong body’.
We should use this legal decision as a useful tool, an ally, in exposing the smoke and mirrors of gender ideology, and it’s regressive consequences. Call it a new phase of the culture wars. At least we have a warning shot that should force governments – both national and devolved – to get off that bloody identitarian fence, and stop sneering at those courageous culture warriors who are really the change-makers.
As yet, Labour will need some serious pressure to see through today’s victory and make sure it is more than just a legalistic piece of paper. Harriet Harman’s immediate post on X bodes badly. Harman is supposed to be Labour’s UK special envoy for women and girls, yet writes: ‘Single sex spaces for women are important & can exclude trans women but only where necessary’. She seems to be interpreting the law to suit her own political prejudices and implying women's spaces are still not safe in the UK government’s hands.
But that’s tomorrow’s fight, and we at the Academy of Ideas will be there all the way. For now, join me in a celebratory drink to our Scottish ‘sheroes’ and all those thousands of women who made today such a glorious day.
Watch
THE WOMEN WHO WOULDN’T WHEESHT
Battle of Ideas festival 2024
SPEAKERS
Joanna Cherry KC, Gillian Philip, Susan Smith
CHAIR
Marion Calder
Warmest congratulations -it has been a long journey