EHRC code on single sex spaces comes into force on 5th August 2026

[SingleSexSpacesInSchools]

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/788/pdfs/uksi_20260788_en.pdf

A small feminine-looking male-apparent person, vs. a large manly-looking one in a dress... Really, you think it's the former who's scarier?

As much as it annoys you. Yes. I do. Transwomen are women. I am a strong fighter for equal rights. Not sure how you have made an odd leap between all the history against women and then assumed transwomen are a problem?

Are all transmen small and female looking? Have you met any. What if im 6ft 2 and a bit manly im female by birth am I now being questioned?

Wow, and thats the end of mumsnet for me.

Good because all you've done is regurgitate the same rubbish Mumsnet has been debunking for years.
Your arguments are old, tried and wrong, so very, very wrong, so don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way out.

I didnt know the whole of mumsnet was so illinformed and transphobic. I think thats a shame surely there are parents of trans kids on here. I hope they get love and support

As a rule, yes, transmen are smaller than men, and much more feminine-looking.

Have I met any? Yes, several, including myself.

A "bit manly" woman is still clearly a lot less manly than a man, looks very much like the woman she is, and will no more be questioned than she has been until now.

I think the female half of humanity matters enough to have a name that doesn't include men even if those men really really believe they "think and feel like women", yes.

The question is, why don't you?

Why do you value female people so little that you are happy to redefine every single one of us as people who think/feel the way male trans "women" presume we do simply for the benefit of a handful of sexist trans-identifying men?

Can you not see how sexist that it?

It's an infestation

I don't value women any less by respecting transgender women. Recognising trans women doesn't redefine or erase cisgender women—it simply acknowledges that not everyone's experience of womanhood is the same.
I also don't accept the premise that trans women are just "sexist men." Being transgender isn't about believing women wear dresses or act a certain way; it's about a person's gender identity. Reducing all trans women to sexist caricatures ignores both the evidence and the reality of their lives.
Wanting trans women to be treated with dignity doesn't come at the expense of cisgender women. We can support women's rights, take safety seriously, and also reject the idea that an entire group should be treated as a threat simply because they're transgender.

What is "womanhood"?

What is "gender identity"? How does it manifest itself?

Fine. I'm tall and broad,for a woman, and I have been challenged in the women's toilets. Why should that be a problem? I am pleased that other women challenge someone who they think might be a man.

But we are going to question people as they just try and go for a pee. So we are clear thats the biggest thing to concern ourselves with?

Why? You were just going to pee? Also where does that end, how did you prove it???

Womanhood doesn't have a single universally accepted definition. Some people define it purely in terms of biological sex, while others include the social and personal experience of living and being recognised as a woman. That's one of the reasons these debates are so difficult—people often start from different definitions.
Gender identity is generally understood as a person's internal sense of whether they are a woman, a man, or another gender. It isn't something that can be directly measured like blood pressure or height. Instead, it's understood through a person's consistent experience of themselves over time. For transgender people, that experience doesn't align with the sex they were assigned at birth, and for many this is accompanied by significant distress, known as gender dysphoria.
Importantly, gender identity isn't the same thing as believing women wear dresses or men like football. Most transgender people aren't defining gender by stereotypes. The idea is that a person's internal sense of self can differ from their biological sex, even though people disagree about how that should be understood or reflected in law and society.

What about male bodies in women's prisons? What about elderly women asking for female intimate carers and being assigned male-bodied people? What about female victims of sexual assault having to tolerate the presence of male-bodied people in their support group? And so on and so forth. This isn't just about the toilets, far from it.

And even if it were: there are plenty of women who feel unsafe in the presence of male-bodied people in the women's toilets. Don't they matter too?

In other words: "womanhood" and "gender identity" are meaningless concepts, since they are entirely dependent on whoever is discussing them at any given time.

Thus, they cannot be used to make laws.

Which is why under UK law, womanhood refers exclusively to the biological female sex. Under that definition, transwomen are not women, and don't belong in female single-sex spaces.

They do matter. Women's privacy, dignity, and safety should absolutely be taken seriously. The question isn't whether those concerns are real—it's how we balance them with the rights and safety of transgender people.
Not every situation is the same. Prisons, hospital wards, domestic violence refuges, intimate care, and public toilets all involve different levels of risk and vulnerability, so it's reasonable for policies to differ depending on the context. Many services already make decisions based on individual risk rather than applying a blanket rule either way.
I don't think it's helpful to frame this as "women versus trans women." Both groups deserve compassion and protection. We should be looking for evidence-based policies that protect vulnerable people without assuming that all transgender women are a threat simply because they're transgender.

Being transgender isn't about believing women wear dresses or act a certain way; it's about a person's gender identity.

Is there a way to tell the difference between a man who is pretending to be a woman and a man who is actually a woman?

Because we can't see inside their heads to see their "gender identity." If you know of an easy way to distinguish between the two, then we could weed out all the harmful men, and just let the nice ones in (well, we could if it weren't against the law).

It would be really helpful if you could let us know how you do it, because women have been wondering about this for years,and no one seems to have an answer.

Thanks.

I don't think that follows. The fact that people disagree about the definition of a concept doesn't make it meaningless. We debate concepts like religion, marriage, disability, consent, and free speech all the time, yet they're still used in law. The law often has to define terms for practical purposes, even when there isn't universal agreement.

According to the Supreme Court 'transwomen' are men. The court clarified that when The Equality Act says men and women they mean biological men and women. The EHRC guidance says womens and men's facilities should be used on the basis of sex not gender identity. 'Transwomen' need to use the men's or a gender neutral alternative.

Why not go the other way around? Why not assess the risk posed to transwomen in keeping to use male single-sex services, as they'd been doing all their lives? I'm positing that it is zero. In other words: transwomen are perfectly safe using male single-sex services, and there's no need for them to use female ones.

As for the risk presented by transwomen to women, I have one name that tells it all: Katie Dolatowski.

So the answer is to treat all transwomen as dangerous predatory men?

But what does "living as a woman" actually boil down to? How do you do it if you're male? (How do you do it if you're female, come to that?)

We don't want to share female facilities with any men, even the nice ones.

Is there a way to tell the difference between a man who is pretending to be a woman and a man who is actually a woman?

That's my question. If you could answer it with an answer, rather than another question, that would be great, thanks.