Scottish Legal
Blog: Shifting sands on the definition of ‘woman’ in Scots law
Published 21 April 2020
by Dr Kath Murray, Lisa Mackenzie and Lucy Hunter Blackburn
'Blog: Shifting sands on the definition of ‘woman’ in Scots law'
(extract)
"This expanded definition of ‘woman’ was introduced at stage 2 of the legislative process, following representations from the Scottish Trans Alliance. It brings within scope some people who have not changed their legal sex to ‘female’ using a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), and excludes some people who remain female in law (those transitioning to live as men, without a GRC).
In 2019 the Scottish government consulted on the implementation of the act. The consultation document included draft guidance, which set out examples of acceptable ‘evidence that the person was continuously living as a woman’, all of which are linguistic in nature:
“always using female pronouns; using a female name on official documents such as a driving licence or passport, or on utility bills or bank accounts; describing themselves and being described by others in written or other communication using female language.” (continues)
The debate, of course, goes far wider than the Public Boards Act. Defining who is a woman in law and policy has been the subject of intense debate in recent years. While the UK and Scottish governments have both paused their plans for reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), all the main political parties support amending the GRA, and have at some point advocated that individuals should be able to change their legal sex by making a statutory declaration (often referred to as ‘self-ID’). For instance, speaking at an event on the political representation of women in 2018, Liberal Democrat President Sally Brinton stated that she would be happy with a ‘gender-balanced’ parliament made up of 50 per cent men and 50 per cent trans women.
Despite its earlier interest in consistency with the Equality Act 2010, the concerns raised about the definitions used in the GRPB Act 2018 have not caused the Scottish government to pause and the act will come fully into force at the end of next month. The planned guidance does not appear to have been issued yet, and the Scottish government has not commented on the points made in the consultation analysis."
www.scottishlegal.com/article/blog-shifting-sands-on-the-definition-of-woman-in-scots-law
extended article by MSB:
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2020/04/21/shifting-sands-on-the-definition-of-woman-in-scots-law-the-journey-of-the-gender-representation-on-public-boards-act-from-consultation-to-implementation/