Adapting gender ruling into practical steps difficult for firms – watchdog chair

The chairwoman of the watchdog which has provided guidance to the Government on trans people’s use of certain spaces has said it will be “difficult” for service providers to adapt a ruling on the legal definition of a woman “into practical steps”.

On Friday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) shared its updated code of practice with women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson after a Supreme Court ruling in April, which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the EHRC, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think it’s going to be difficult for duty bearers, service providers, to adapt a ruling which is quite black and white into practical steps according to their own circumstances and their own organisation, which is why we’ve always emphasised they should take their own advice as well as adhering to our code.”

The guidance will now be considered by ministers and, once approved, the UK Government must lay the draft code before Parliament for 40 days before it can be brought into force.

Baroness Falkner said service providers such as gyms and shopping centres should already have been adhering to the law.

“Everybody I speak to, every institution I speak to, says: ‘Can you tell us what we’re supposed to do?’” the crossbench peer said.

“That’s wrong… they should have been doing it anyway.”

The EHRC said it received more than 50,000 responses to its code of practice consultation.

According to a draft code which was published ahead of the consultation, a birth certificate could be requested by a sports club or hospital if there is “genuine concern” about what biological sex a person is.

Elsewhere, the draft code said trans people can be excluded from competitive sport “when necessary for reasons of safety or fair competition”, and gave an example of how some services might be able to adapt to “offer toilets in individual lockable rooms to be used by both sexes”.