Key takeaways
Supreme Court backs biological definition of sex
EHRC guidance will reflect legal clarity on equality
Single-sex spaces must consider context
Rules vary across schools, workplaces and services
Public consultation to shape future guidance
EHRC invites feedback before updating its code
On 25 April 2025, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published an interim update on the practical implications of the UK Supreme Court judgment in the For Women Scotland case which upheld a biological definition of sex for equality law purposes (see our summary of the decision here).
The EHRC’s interim update covers issues such as the provision of single-sex toilets, washing facilities and changing rooms. This makes it clear that the context in which single-sex facilities are provided is important, differentiating, as the Act itself does, between:
Workplaces
Services open to the public
Schools
Associations
Sporting bodies
The EHRC has also confirmed that:
it intends to launch a two-week public consultation in mid-May 2025, to understand how the practical implications of the judgment may be best reflected in its guidance
updated EHRC guidance will be published “in due course” (the EHRC aims to place an updated Code of Practice to the UK Government by the end of June 2025 for ministerial approval)
