Labour confirms biological sex ‘loophole’ in Equality Act will not be closed amid fears for women's safety
Anneliese Dodds, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said there were no plans to update the existing legislation
PA
Labour has confirmed that they will not rewrite the Equality Act 2010 and eliminate the biological sex “loophole”, amid fears that women’s safety will be compromised.
Anneliese Dodds, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said there were no plans to update the existing legislation, which Tories had previously promised to reform in an attempt to protect single-safe spaces.
The Conservatives had promised to rewrite the act so that “sex” in the legislation means “biological sex”.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the “safety of women and girls” meant the “current confusion around definitions of sex and gender” cannot be allowed to continue.
Anneliese Dodds, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said there were no plans to update the existing legislationPAIf changed, the law would prohibit transgender women from entering single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms or changing rooms, and stop them from being admitted to hospital in a female ward.
Asked whether the Government intended to amend the law and change what the legal definition of a woman is, Dodds replied: “We are proud of the Equality Act and the rights and protections it affords women. The Government does not plan to amend legal definitions in the act.”
However, Mims Davies, the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, cautioned that this could create further “loopholes” for abusers.
She said: “Labour simply cares more about appeasing woke ideologues than delivering on women’s safety."
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“We introduced this change to provide much-needed clarity in the law to stop potential abusers exposing loopholes and acting in stopping the diluting of women’s safety.
“Only by legally enshrining the importance of single-sex spaces can this Labour Government give biological women the clarity, dignity, privacy and safety we need.”
The Conservatives have said that since the Equality Act was introduced back in 2010, it has not kept up with “evolving interpretations” of sex and gender.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has pledged to “modernise, simplify and reform” the Gender Recognition Act in a move which will make it easier for transgender people to transition.
Writing for The Guardian in July, Dodds said: “Changing gender is not a decision anyone makes lightly.
Keir Starmer has changed his stance on the matter
PA“The process is intrusive, outdated and humiliating. So we will modernise, simplify and reform the gender recognition law to a new process. We will remove invasive bureaucracy and simplify the process.”
However, she did acknowledge the controversial nature of the debate. “We need to recognise that sex and gender are different – as the Equality Act does,” she said.
We will make sure that nothing in our modernised gender recognition process would override the single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act.
“Put simply, this means that there will always be places where it is reasonable for biological women only to have access.
“Labour will defend those spaces, providing legal clarity for the providers of single-sex services.”
Starmer himself has flip-flopped on his stance on the matter. He stated last year that "99.9 per cent of women" do not have a penis, and in 2021, criticised Labour MP Rosie Duffield who said that “only women have a cervix”.
However, on a BBC Question Time debate this year, he said he agreed with former Labour leader Tony Blair's position that “biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis”.