What does UK Supreme Court’s ruling on legal definition of a woman mean for sport?

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In a historic ruling last week, judges at the UK’s highest court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex and that transgender women do not fall within that legal definition under equality law.

The UK government welcomed the ruling for bringing “clarity and confidence” for women and service providers, including those who run sports clubs, according to a government spokesperson. The ruling means single-sex services can exclude trans women.

“The initial reaction to the judgement from most commentators was ‘that’s that, then’ for trans women and sport, and that was what the anti-trans groups were briefing,” Natalie Washington, the lead organiser of the Football v Transphobia campaign, told The Athletic.

“But I think as the dust has settled, it doesn’t seem quite as clear-cut as that.”

What is the potential impact of the ruling on women’s sport in the UK? The Athletic looks at what the ruling said and its potential short- and long-term impact on women’s sport in the UK.

What was the Supreme Court’s ruling?

Five Supreme Court judges determined that the “concept of sex is binary” and that a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) — a formal document giving legal recognition of someone’s new gender — in the female gender “does not come with the definition of a woman”.

The case against the devolved Scottish government, brought about by campaigners For Women Scotland (FWS), asked the Supreme Court to determine what the law meant by “sex”, given that the Scottish government had argued the 2004 Gender Recognition Act defines it as “certificated sex”.

The judgment, issued over 88 pages, was limited to the precise interpretation of the equality legislation, the 2010 Equality Act, which applies to the UK, not just Scotland, and is designed to prevent various forms of discrimination, but provides an exemption allowing competitors to be excluded from a “gender-affected” sport or activity based on their sex under section 195.

In their ruling, the judges stated they were not commenting more broadly on whether trans women are women, adding it was not the role of the court to adjudicate on the meaning of gender or sex.

“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Judge Lord Hodge told the court. “Read fairly and in context, the provisions relating to single-sex services can only be interpreted by reference to biological sex,” the judges said.

When announcing the ruling, Judge Lord Hodge stated it should not be taken as a triumph for one group in society.

Judgment has been given this morning in the matter of For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent) UKSC 2024/0042: https://t.co/QGmrliNOsG pic.twitter.com/f2qlAD2JMV

— UK Supreme Court (@UKSupremeCourt) April 16, 2025

The decision arrives amid intense public debate over the intersection of transgender rights and women’s rights, particularly in the women’s sport arena.

However, not everyone agrees that the ruling clearly defines biological sex.

“The court made no effort to define biological sex, and that is a problem,” Washington says. “For example, it appears to say that it is legal to exclude a trans man from men’s sport on account of his biology, but it is also legal to exclude them from women’s sport as they have masculinised their appearance.

“From an equality point of view, it does not seem right that someone can be excluded from both men’s and women’s sport. And this is the central principle of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which came about because the British government lost a legal challenge at the European Court of Human Rights. It is a breach of human rights to leave people between genders. So I would expect the treatment of trans men to end up in the courts.

“The failure to define biological sex is also problematic when you think of women with disorders of sexual development. Intersex people make up less than three per cent of the UK population but that is a significant number of people who could end up excluded from sport. And when you think about athletics, could this hinder our chances of staging international events?”

Does the ruling immediately change anything?

Governing bodies of sport in the UK will not be mandated to amend or reconsider their rules on eligibility immediately given the new ruling.

Rather, given its recency and weight, the ruling is expected to influence policy-making in the future, with the nuances of implementation still needing to be considered.

“Most sports in the UK already had policies that said it was legal to exclude trans people from sport,” Washington says. “Now we’re just waiting to see what football and cricket, which allow trans women to play in women’s competitions at the grassroots level, do with their rules. So you could argue that not much has changed.”

However, it is expected that at grassroots level, changes will be felt more broadly and with more speed than at elite level, particularly in regard to the use of shared spaces such as changing rooms and toilets.

“It will also be interesting to see what happens to what has been a growing grassroots scene for mixed, inclusive, ‘don’t ask’ competition,” Washington says. “It’s popular in roller derby, but there are also examples in football and rugby.”

What are the rules on transgender women in sport?

There is no set rule on transgender women in sport. However, many governing bodies in the UK have already implemented restrictions on the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport in recent years.

World Athletics, British Cycling and swimming’s global governing body FINA were some of the first governing bodies to update eligibility policies, outright banning transgender women from taking part in women’s events.

In 2022, British Triathlon became the first British sporting body to establish an open category in which transgender athletes can compete.

In August 2023, British Rowing followed suit by announcing that transgender women would not be permitted to compete in the women’s category at its events, followed swiftly by Rugby Football Union (RFU) and UK Athletics, which had previously allowed transgender women to compete in female categories if they met minimum testosterone requirements.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body of tennis in the UK, has no control over policies for Wimbledon, Queen’s or any other ATP, WTA or ITF tournament played in the UK. However, it does restrict trans women and non-binary individuals assigned male at birth from playing in the women’s category in National Championships through to local county and district leagues.

Earlier this month, the Football Association, English football’s governing body, updated its policy around transgender athletes competing in all levels of women’s football, from grassroots through to the top-tier Women’s Super League, introducing stricter eligibility criteria for transgender women and non-binary players in the women’s game. A new formal process will give the governing body “ultimate discretion” over eligibility for transgender women and non-binary players to play in the women’s game. Any decisions will be managed on a “case-by-case basis”.

England Hockey has updated its trans and non-binary participation policy with the creation of a female category for “participants recorded female at birth, which includes trans men not undergoing hormone treatment” and an open category for all, which will come into effect in September 2025.

In 2011, FIFA issued gender-verification regulations that did not set testosterone levels. In 2022, soccer’s governing body said it was reviewing its policy.

What has been the reaction to the ruling?

Pride Sport UK was among several organisations to say they were “deeply shocked” by the ruling and needed time to assess its implications.

In a joint statement, LEAP Sports — a Scottish-based LGBTIQ+ sports charity — Pride Sports and Pride Sports Cymru said: “We are concerned about the potential implications for trans people across the sport and physical activity sector and need some time to give these our full consideration.

“In the meantime, we remain committed to ensuring trans people access the life-saving benefits of sport and physical activity and will continue to work together towards a UK sector in which we are all able to be ourselves; respected, valued and supported to achieve our best.”

Mara Yamauchi, Sex Matters advisory group member and two-time Olympian for Team GB, told The Athletic: “The UK Supreme Court judgment was unequivocal and unanimous: a woman is a biological female. Sex is about your body, not certificates. It is binary — male or female. The Equality Act 2010 section 195 is also very clear that where a sport is sex-affected, single-sex sport is permitted. In other words, a female category for females only is permitted at all levels to enable fair and safe sport for all.

“So all the national governing bodies and sports organisations which currently allow males in the female category at any level will have to rewrite their policies. Those organisations which already have rules stating that their female categories are for females only will, if males are still competing in them, have to take swift, robust action to exclude those males. Organisations which fail to do this will face legal action, which they will lose.”

On Sunday, Manchester City Women player Kerstin Casparij kissed a wristband in the colour of trans rights after scoring against Everton in the Women’s Super League.

Kerstin Casparij kissing her trans flag armband after her goal 🩵🏳️‍⚧️ pic.twitter.com/m2e8Zx7OL4

— 💃 (@insidemcwfc) April 20, 2025

Washington is most concerned with the impact the ruling will have on increased abuse and harassment.

“It happens whenever there is a policy change like this, and it’s already started to happen this week,” Washington says. “Every transphobe is emboldened and things can get pretty toxic. So, my worry is that trans people will just decide sport is not for them and we will end up with a group of people who are less active, less fit and less happy.”

The Football Association has said there are 20 trans women registered to participate in amateur football in England while the most recent census, in 2021, states there are 260,000 trans people in total in the United Kingdom.

According to a Kick It Out report from last year, there were 22 reported instances of abuse towards players based on gender reassignment in the 2023-24 season across the professional and grassroots game. Though a relatively small number, that is double the instances reported in the season before.

This rise mirrors the situation in the country as a whole with a Home Office report from October 2023 stating there were 4,732 hate crimes committed against transgender people in England in the preceding year, a rise of 11 per cent from the year before.

What have governing bodies said?

The newness of the ruling means most governing bodies responsible for implementing rules and regulations are considering options moving forward, with no immediate policy changes or indications of making them.

British Athletics told The Athletic it “aligned fully” with policy-maker World Athletics and that the ruling “doesn’t change what we already had in place”.

UK Sport, which funds Olympic and Paralympic athletes but is not a regulator of sport governance, said in a statement that it is “committed to working with colleagues across the Sports Councils to consider any implications of the ruling on our guidance to sports”. In 2021, the body issued guidance on transgender inclusion in domestic sport in partnership with Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Scotland and Sport Northern Ireland that deferred any decisions about trans inclusion to individual sports.

Sport England, which invests in grassroots sport and provides funding and support to various organisations and initiatives in England but does not run facilities, said in a statement it was “now considering what today’s ruling means for grassroots sports and clubs” as “we provide guidance on requirements around inclusion, safety and fairness to ensure that the needs of all groups are met”.

England Boxing, which permits boxers to compete only against those of their birth gender in line with most international boxing rules, said the ruling does not result in any immediate changes to its policies, but a review of the judgment will take place.

“We understand that its implications may evolve over time, particularly as guidance from government, UK Sport, or Sport England is updated,” it said in a statement.

“England Boxing remains committed to ensuring our policies are inclusive, legally robust, and in line with best practice. As always, we will continue to monitor the legal and regulatory landscape closely and will engage with relevant stakeholders before making any decisions about policy changes.”

Additional reporting: Matt Slater

(Top photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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