The Supreme Court Decision on Sex and Gender

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, the UK Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.

Adam is joined by James Cook, Alex Forsyth and the BBC's social affairs editor Alison Holt.

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New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Miranda Slade with Bella Saltiel and Adam Chowdhury. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:04.8	Hello. Now, if you go down to Parliament and you cross Parliament Square in Westminster,
0:09.7	you get to the UK Supreme Court.
0:13.0	And occasionally that building issues what journalistic cliché would call a landmark judgment.
0:19.3	Well, that happened today on Wednesday in a case brought
0:23.3	against the Scottish government by some campaigners. And the reason it's a landmark ruling
0:29.5	is that the justices in the Supreme Court have clarified what the UK's Equalities legislation
0:35.7	means when it talks about sex, when it talks about men and women.
0:41.3	And the judges in the Supreme Court have said that that act means biological sex. And that has
0:47.9	implications for the discussion around the rights of women and trans women. And so we will discuss just why this is so important
0:56.0	and actually what the judges said
0:57.5	and we'll have a bit of a theory about what it might mean
1:00.0	on this episode of Newscast.
1:03.4	Newscast from the BBC.
1:05.7	He has just compared me to the fat controller.
1:08.7	Did I say that? I can't believe I said that.
1:11.6	Next Wednesday?
1:12.4	This is R for the benefit of Earth.
1:14.9	I'm not personally a huge Sabrina Carpenter fam.
1:17.9	I don't think I'm being rude.
1:19.3	I like landscapes.
1:20.4	Take me down to Downey Street.
	...

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