Women exist. Get over it!

The UK Supreme Court has just confirmed what anyone with a grasp on reality has always known: that women are adult human females. In a unanimous and refreshingly rational judgement, the justices in For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers make clear that the word ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 means exactly what it says – male and female, as determined by biology. It’s a landmark victory for women’s rights, and a resounding humiliation for the Scottish ministers who thought they could rewrite reality.

The case centres on the Scottish government’s Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018. Its goal was simple enough: get more women on to public boards. But in the hands of Holyrood’s gender fanatics, the legislation was contorted into a Trojan horse for gender ideology.

According to the Scottish government’s guidance, any man with a gender-recognition certificate (GRC) could be considered a woman for the purposes of the quota. If this interpretation had stood, it would have set a precedent whereby any single-sex space – such as rape shelters, hospital wards or prisons – could be open to men, provided they had paid a fiver for a piece of paper declaring them to be female.

Outside the court, Trina Budge of For Women Scotland beams: ‘Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex. Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women.’

The judgement also comes as a relief for gay groups. LGB Alliance, alongside the Lesbian Project and Scottish Lesbians, made a submission to the court as the ‘Lesbian Interveners’. LGB Alliance CEO Kate Barker says she’s profoundly relieved by this morning’s ruling, noting that a loss would have made it unlawful for lesbian groups to exclude men identifying as women. She tells me: ‘When Ruth Crawford KC argued on behalf of the Scottish government that a heterosexual man with a gender-recognition certificate is a woman and so “becomes” a lesbian, the justices were visibly perplexed… It is clear that the idea of a heterosexual man being legally entitled to join a lesbian group – and of lesbians being bound by law to validate that – is absurd.’

As Karon Monaghan KC, acting for the appellant, noted in the proceedings, it ‘barely needs stating’ that lesbians are female and not attracted to male bodies – regardless of what certificates a man might have.

In concrete terms, this ruling reaffirms the legality of excluding men – including those with GRCs – from women-only shortlists, services and spaces. It’s a clear rebuke to the idea that ‘woman’ is merely a self-declared identity, reinforced by legal paperwork.

For over a decade, those who raised the alarm about the danger gender ideology poses to women’s rights had a target placed on their back by those in power. Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon even accused women’s rights campaigners of using feminism as a ‘cloak of acceptability’ for transphobia – before then casually suggesting that many gender-critical feminists are also misogynists, homophobes and racists.

Today’s ruling is a vindication. It’s proof that biology is not bigotry, and that no amount of bureaucratic fiction can turn a man into a woman. The Supreme Court hasn’t just restored legal clarity – it has also reminded the country that reality isn’t up for negotiation.

Jo Bartosch is a journalist campaigning for the rights of women and girls.