YouGov poll shows support for sex meaning biological sex in the Equality Act

A new poll¹ conducted by YouGov for Sex Matters shows that public opinion is moving quickly towards the position that people born male do not belong in women’s spaces. 

Compared with mid-2022, support for allowing trans-identifying males into women’s spaces and sport has fallen. Almost three-quarters of all respondents believe women’s sport should exclude all males regardless of claimed identity. 

As before, when told that many “transgender women” do not have surgery, support for their access to women’s spaces is less.

An overall majority of respondents support changing the Equality Act so that sex is defined as meaning “biological sex”. This support is across all major political parties. 

In the new poll, conducted on 19th December 2024, the number of people answering “don’t know” was lower across all the questions compared to the May 2022 poll, suggesting greater awareness and/or more confidence to express a view. 

The survey

We repeated questions asked in a YouGov poll in May 2022 using the same terminology and wording to facilitate comparison. A representative sample of the UK population was asked:

In the following questions a transgender woman is someone who was biologically male at birth, but now identifies as a woman. A transgender man is someone who was biologically female at birth, but now identifies as a man.

Do you think transgender women should or should not be allowed to…

As tends to be the case for polling about inclusion of trans-identifying males in women’s spaces or services, sport was where people were most opposed, with almost three-quarters of those asked saying that “transgender women” – male people who identify as women – should not be permitted to compete in women’s sport. This is up from 61% in the previous poll. 

Absence of surgery makes some people think again

Next, respondents were told:

Some transgender people have gender reassignment surgery. This is surgery by which a transgender person’s physical attributes are altered to match the gender they identify with (e.g. breast and genital surgery).

Do you think a transgender woman who has not had gender reassignment surgery should or should not be allowed to…

As before, support for allowing access fell when thinking about people who have not had gender-reassignment surgery.

In practice it is not possible to treat those who have had surgery differently from those who have not, since we do not normally see the intimate body parts of other people. This distinction has been factored into prison policy, but elsewhere it is not a workable approach.

Sex should mean “biological sex” in the Equality Act

An overall majority (54%) favoured clarifying that sex in the Equality Act means “biological sex”. They were asked:

The Equality Act protects people against discrimination based on protected characteristics, which include sex. There is debate over how “sex” in the Equality Act is defined, and whether it means biological sex (that is, people’s biological sex at birth) or includes transgender people who have legally changed their sex. Would you support or oppose changing the Equality Act so that sex is defined as meaning “biological sex”?

Almost one in four respondents said they didn’t know. Among those expressing a view, support is more than 2:1 in favour of defining sex as meaning biological sex in the act.

Support for clarifying the act in this way cuts across all political parties. Respondents were asked how they voted in the July 2024 general election. More Labour and Liberal Democrat voters said they “don’t know”, at 27%, compared with 17% of Conservative voters, but among those who expressed an opinion many more favoured clarifying the act than disagreed. For every Labour voter who opposed clarifying the act, two were in favour (48% for versus 26% against).

These findings are part of a long-term trend 

YouGov has asked similar questions in December 2018, June 2020 and May 2022. In 2022 it reported that:

“The biggest single shift that has taken place since 2018 is over trans women’s participation in women’s sports. While this was already unpopular – back in 2018 Britons said such participation should not be allowed by 48% to 27% – sentiment is even more negative now: 61% now say trans women should not be allowed to take part in women’s sport, with just 16% believing they should.”

There was a substantial increase in media coverage of the issue between February and May 2022, first with American swimmer Lia Thomas and then with Welsh cyclist Emily Bridges. 

This shift away from trans inclusion continued in 2024, with 74% now opposed to allowing trans-identifying males to compete in women’s sport and only 11% in favour.

1. All figures are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,533 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 18th and 19th December 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+). YouGov is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
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