It's interesting to read this article by Keir Starmer from 2002. He used to know that women were discriminated against on the grounds of sex.
All the bolding was applied to his words by me.
extract
And although women can take the throne, they are not free from the effects of deep-rooted sex discrimination, which is as old as the common law. Since the monarchy depends on the right of hereditary principle, rather than election or appointment, common law rules of succession apply. That means that male heirs take precedence over female - if George VI had had a son, there would be no golden jubilee for Queen Elizabeth this year.
That all of this contravenes every principle of non-discrimination ever drawn up hardly needs emphasis. The Human Rights Act 1998 was described by the government as a key component of its drive to modernise society and refresh our democracy. It expressly prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex, race and religion. It gives UK judges power to reinterpret the law to make it compatible "so far as possible" with the European convention on human rights.
That may be enough to end the discrimination against women in the rules of succession, but so virulent is the religious discrimination in the Act of Settlement that it is probably not possible to interpret it compatibly with basic human rights. The only real remedy is repeal: a small but important step in the "consolidation of our multicultural and multifaith society" described by the Queen in her jubilee speech in April this year.
(continues)
Surely, therefore, the time is ripe for reform. For republicans reform offers the opportunity for informed debate about the continued existence and role of the sovereign. For monarchists, there is the happy fact that there is at present an heir apparent with two sons; succession for the foreseeable future is unlikely to be affected by any alteration of the law allowing it to be passed to the eldest child of the sovereign irrespective of religion or sex. In the meantime, no doubt Prince William will take comfort in the fact that his idol, the princess of pop, Britney Spears is a Baptist. One day she may be Queen.
Keir Starmer QC is counsel for the Guardian (together with Geoffrey Robertson QC).
Keir Starmer writing for the Guardian in 2002