EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
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For Women Scotland in the Supreme Court
What was the case about? For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers was heard by the Supreme Court on 26th and 27th November 2024. It concerned the effect of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 on the definition of “woman” and “man” for the purposes of the Equality Act...
3rd December 2024
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Sex Matters responds to EHRC strategy
Sex Matters has responded to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s 2025–2028 strategic plan. In 2021 we called on the EHRC to step up and address the issue of sex and gender. We told it about women who stand up against gender ideology being bullied at work and in...
4th October 2024
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Response to EHRC strategy
We respond to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft strategic plan for 2025 to 2028 to thank the EHRC for its work, and its chair for her courage, and call on it to continue to work on the issue of sex-based rights, and to apply the equality and...
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Sex matters and the new government
The UK has a new prime minister and we now know there will be a new Labour government, with a significant majority in the House of Commons. The Labour Party has pledged to provide greater support for victims of violence against women and greater protection for women’s rights at...
5th July 2024
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Has the EHRC forgotten about children and safeguarding?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools in England on gender-questioning children. It says that DfE’s approach “is compatible with equality and human rights law”, but calls for a clearer explanation of the legal concepts underpinning it. ...
21st March 2024
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What does the law say about “gender-questioning children” in schools?
An analysis of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s draft guidance for schools on gender-questioning children. See all our updates about this guidance.
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Threats, reprisals and intimidation against the EHRC and those who stand up for sex-based rights in Britain
We prepared this detailed submission to accompany our letter to GANHRI (the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions) which was sent with 38 organisations and groups.
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Letter to Kishwer Falkner, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
On behalf of Sex Matters and Transgender Trend, we have written to express our concern about the first recommendation in the EHRC Equality and Human Rights Monitor report published this week.
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Letter to the EHRC about its technical guidance on the Equality Act
Our letter to Kishwer Falkner and Marcial Boo flags the concerns raised in our post.
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What is new in the EHRC guidance?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has today released updated technical guidance on the Equality Act for schools in England and in Scotland. We look at what has changed. Clearer definitions: no child under 18 can change sex The new guidance is more careful and precise about the legal...
22nd September 2023
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EHRC to correct inaccurate schools guidance
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to us to confirm that it is undertaking a rapid review of its 2014 technical guidance for schools and intends to publish a revised version within the coming weeks, correcting the inaccuracies that have been highlighted: “We recognise that since that...
17th September 2023
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Schools are in danger of breaking the law on sex and gender
The Department for Education’s new guidance for schools needs to be produced soon, and it needs to be aligned with the law. Today we publish the UK’s first review of the legal framework on sex and gender in education, and it shows that thousands of schools and colleges in...
4th September 2023
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Keeping children safe as girls and boys in education
The first review of the UK's legal framework on sex and gender in education shows that thousands of schools and colleges in England are in danger of breaching legal requirements due to lack of government guidance and faulty existing guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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Getting to good schools guidance
The Secretary of State for Education is due to release guidance for schools in relation to “gender-questioning” children (who may have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment under the Equality Act). This was delayed at the end of last term as the Department for Education needed more time. In order...
30th August 2023
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Paused investigation into Baroness Falkner risks equalities watchdog ‘running adrift’
Edward Malnick for The Telegraph
EHRC head accused of discrimination in her efforts to rebalance quango’s approach to trans issues, with a greater emphasis on women’s rights.
Maya Forstater of Sex Matters is quoted. -
We call on GANHRI to protect civic space
On 3rd May 2023 Stonewall and a group of organisations wrote to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) accusing Britain’s equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, of being a “failed institution” which is “actively harming trans people”. This is the third time Stonewall has...
16th May 2023
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Thank you, Kishwer Falkner
We have written to Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: Dear Kishwer Falkner Thank you for publishing your letter to the Minister for Women and Equalities setting out, with careful reasoning, why you support revisiting and clarifying the meaning of “sex” as a protected...
11th April 2023
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Two weeks to go!
Last October, Sex Matters launched a petition asking the government to amend the Equality Act 2010 in order to make clear what the protected characteristic of sex actually means. We think it should mean biological sex – male or female; the personal characteristic that is recorded on newborns’ birth...
6th April 2023
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![“We make it really clear to all women when they access [the service] that there is the potential for trans women to be in that group and that that’s just how it is.” Service provider cited in the research supporting the Survivors' Network letter](https://sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Survivors-Network-letter.png)
Single-sex services: the Survivors’ Network response
On 4th April 2022 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued new guidance on the law on single and separate-sex services, making clear that services for women don’t have to include trans-identifying males. This has been widely welcomed by leaders of women’s organisations in discussions we have been having,...
27th April 2022
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Analysis of the open letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission from the Survivors’ Network
On 4th April 2022 the EHRC issued new guidance on the law on single-sex and separate-sex services, which was widely welcomed by women’s organisations. But Survivors’ Network (supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse in Sussex) published an open letter criticising the new guidance. This briefing considers its contents.
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Separate and single-sex service providers: a guide on the Equality Act sex and gender reassignment exceptions
Advice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, released on 4th April 2022. Read our statement about it.
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Responses to the government consultation on banning conversion therapy
The government's consultation on conversion therapy has now closed, and the responses are being analysed. More than a thousand people used the form on our website to send the government their own responses to the consultation.
11th February 2022
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Response to the government consultation on banning conversion therapy
We reviewed the government’s evidence base and, like the EHRC, found little evidence to support this legislation – and a great deal that concerned us…
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Government organisation leaves Stonewall over concerns about impartiality and cost
The government’s Insolvency Service is the latest organisation to leave Stonewall, stating in its internal communications: “Unfortunately, there are concerns around impartiality and upon review, we found that the contract did not represent value for money.” The Insolvency Service joins a growing list of companies and organisations who have...
10th February 2022
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Will the Joint Committee on Human Rights defend the EHRC?
Sex Matters has written to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) to urge it to write to the United Nations to confirm its parliamentary role in overseeing the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and stating its confidence in the EHRC, after recent attacks which have sought to...
9th February 2022
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Letter to Joint Committee on Human Rights
Our February 2022 letter urging the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) to write to the United Nations to confirm its parliamentary role in overseeing the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and stating its confidence in the EHRC, after recent attacks which tried to undermine it.
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What does case law say about single-sex services?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is planning to release new guidance on single-sex services imminently. Kishwer Falkner, Chair of the EHRC, agreed when Joanna Cherry QC MP asked her: “Would you agree with me that all guidance issued by EHRC should be grounded in statute and case law,...
3rd February 2022
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Recent cases – implications for single-sex and separate-sex services
This briefing considers the implications of the cases of Green v Secretary of State, for Justice, AEA v EHRC, Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover, Forstater v CGD and FDJ v Secretary of State for Justice for understanding the law in relation to single-sex services.
