Gender

A Lord Ordinary has ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in vetoing the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill from receiving lawful assent, after a legal challenge to the block was brought by the Scottish Ministers. It was argued for the petitioners that the preconditions

Scottish government proposals to simplify the gender recognition process have been dealt a severe blow after the Court of Session ruled that the UK government's unprecedented decision to veto the bill was lawful.

Legislation to amend the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act has been published. The Act, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2018, aims to address the under-representation of women in public life by setting an objective that 50 per cent of a public board’s non-executive memb

The week ahead sees the battle between the Scottish and UK governments over the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (GRR) move into court as Scottish ministers seek to overturn the Section 35 Order put in place by the Secretary of State for Scotland, currently blocking the bill from becoming a

Joanna Cherry KC has revealed she was ready to pursue legal action against the SNP after some of her Westminster colleagues attempted to prevent her from addressing a gender-critical charity's conference. During a talk at the Fringe, the advocate and MP expressed her belief that First Minister Humza

Dr Michael Foran responds to a critique of his commentary on some upcoming cases. Robin White has kindly offered a response to a recent article I wrote about two upcoming cases concerning the meaning of sex within the Equality Act. I welcome the caution concerning the dangers of analysing the law fr

Russia is to prohibit all forms of gender transition, with allies of President Putin arguing the move is necessary to safeguard the nation against "western anti-family ideology". A bill approved in its initial reading by lawmakers in the Duma will forbid “medical interventions aimed at changin

My previous two opinion pieces about the damaging delay to Scottish gender recognition reform, and the media’s portrayal of it, were underpinned factually by the relevant parts of the Equality Act. Given the ongoing widescale coverage of gender recognition reform, and trans rights, it might be

The UK government has availed itself of section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop Holyrood's Gender Recognition Reform Bill from receiving Royal Assent. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said he would use section 35 following a review of the bill by UK government lawyers. UK ministers are concerned the b

The first casualty of the gender recognition regime is freedom of speech, writes barrister Naomi Cunningham. Section 29(2)(d) of the Scotland Act 1998 provides that an Act of the Scottish Parliament is not law so far is it is incompatible with any of the Convention rights. The UK government may not

Former Dean of Faculty and Advocate General of Scotland, Lord Keen of Elie KC, has suggested that UK ministers should block Scotland's Gender Recognition Reform Bill. The Conservative peer urged the UK government to consider availing itself of section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998.

The International Bar Association (IBA) has launched a toolkit to "empower female legal professionals". Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that gender disparity in world societies and labour markets has a $12 trillion impact on the global economy. Thi

The Scottish government has paid For Women Scotland (FWS) £147,500 after the group won a case against ministers earlier this year. The government had attempted to redefine “woman” in the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 and allow transgender women to occup

The lives of women and girls in Afghanistan are being devastated by the Taliban’s crackdown on their human rights, Amnesty International has said in a new report. Since they took control of the country in August 2021, the Taliban have violated women’s and girls’ rights to education

A fresh legal case on the definition of 'woman' is being brought against the Scottish government on the basis it has failed to comply with an order of the Court of Session made in an earlier case. For Women Scotland is seeking judicial review of the Scottish government's statutory guidance on the Ge