The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to sex, not self-ID or paperwork (gender-recognition certificates). This agreed with our legal interpretation. We have published new guidance and are in the process of updating our publications to reflect the judgment. We are also working to provide answers to the questions we're hearing from supporters and the media. We will publish these as soon as possible.

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Sex matters in life and in law.
It shouldn’t take courage to say so.

Latest campaign

Digital ID can’t be gender self-ID

We all have a right to have the fact of our sex correctly and reliably recorded.

The government’s Data Bill must get sex right.

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Phone held in male hand has text "Trust me – FEMALE"

Keep up with our campaigns and find out how to get involved

Sex in the Supreme Court

Judgment was handed down last week on For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers on the effect of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 on the definitions of “woman” and “man” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

The judgment holds that the terms “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.

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Maya Forstater, Sex Matters Co-Founder

People deserve respect, but ideas do not. We need to be able to speak the truth about sex to protect everybody's rights, and hold institutions to account.

Maya Forstater, Sex Matters Co-Founder

Rebecca Bull, Sex Matters Co-Founder

For rights to be respected in a democratic society it must be possible to debate them, exercise them and advocate for their implementation.

Rebecca Bull, Sex Matters Co-Founder

Naomi Cunningham, Sex Matters Co-Founder

The law can't change the material reality of sex. Pretending it can causes real harms, and liabilities.

Naomi Cunningham, Sex Matters Chair

Emma Hilton, Sex Matters Co-Founder

The words male and female have a very clear biological meaning, not up for postmodern deconstruction. They do not refer to social categories, but to human anatomy.

Emma Hilton, Sex Matters Co-Founder

Clarity about sex is crucial for safeguarding everybody's human rights.

We are campaigning to establish that sex matters in rules, laws, policies, language and culture. We aim to:

  • 1

    Establish clarity on single sex services

  • 2

    Enable people to speak up

  • 3

    Make debate possible

What we do

  • We lobby for clarity on sex in law and institutions.
  • We publish research and analysis about human rights.
  • We educate people about the law and about their rights.
  • We support and mobilise people to speak up.
  • We hold organisations accountable.

Our principles

  • Reality

    There are two sexes: female and male. People shouldn't be afraid to say this.

  • Clarity

    Organisations and governments should be clear about the sexes and where sex matters.

  • Human rights

    Everybody's human rights matter, including private life, freedom of beliefs and speech.

  • Democracy

    A cohesive society depends on open debate and evidence-based policy making.

Latest updates

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