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What you can do

There are four possible stages:
1. Know your rights
2. Complain and follow up
3. Tell someone
4. Take legal action

Woman with laptop writing notes

Our guide Sex and the law sets out why sex matters in law. We have also produced an easy-read guide to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s interim update on single-sex facilities.

1. Know your rights

Protection from discrimination and harassment 

The Equality Act protects everyone in Britain against discrimination and harassment, including discrimination on the basis of sex (being male or female), and belief (including “gender critical belief”). (In Northern Ireland the law is similar.) 

You are protected from discrimination, and from harassment related to sex:

  • as an employee
  • as a student in education
  • as a user of a public or private service 
  • in relation to clubs and associations (for example Scouts, a sports club or a trades union)

You are protected from harassment on the basis of belief at work and as a member of an association, but not as a service user or in education. 

Data protection 

Under UK laws on data (GDPR) you have the right to access and receive a copy of your personal data, and to have inaccurate personal data rectified. This includes data on your sex.

Professional duty 

Professionals and regulated organisations such as police forces, NHS bodies, charities and schools have particular responsibilities and you have the right to complain if you think these are not being met. 

Use Sex Matters’ guidance: 

2. Complain and follow up

Talk to others

It is a good idea to talk to other people, including work colleagues, if you can. It is always easier to complain together than alone, and your complaint will have more force. 

Define the problem and the solution

The first thing to do is to be clear what the problem is and what you want the solution to be. Don’t try to land the whole of the gender wars on someone’s plate!

  • Do you just want an apology?
  • Do you want a particular problem to be solved? 
  • Do you want to raise a general issue to help an organisation understand why sex matters? 
  • Do you want to let an organisation know that their policy risks unlawful conduct? 

Talk in person or on the phone

If you have a specific problem it can be worth trying to sort it out informally first. Work out the correct person or department to contact, and clearly and politely explain the problem, and the resolution you seek. You can do this in person, by email or on the phone. 

  1. Make a note of what you want to cover beforehand.
  2. Get the name of the person you’re speaking to.
  3. Be polite – a bit of praise can go a long way.
  4. At the end of the conversation, repeat back anything you have agreed, and ask for their email address.
  5. Make a note of who you spoke to, what was said and what you agreed.
  6. Send an email confirming this.

Send more information

If the person you speak to engages constructively but doesn’t understand the issue you may want to share relevant Sex Matters resources with them:

Escalate

If the person you speak to is not the decision-maker you may need to escalate it up the organisation. Ask who best to speak to. 

If the informal approach doesn’t work you can start a formal complaint (or grievance at work) using the organisation’s process. Ask for details of the complaints procedure or look on the website for it. 

Make a formal complaint

Collect all the evidence together and put your complaint in writing. If others share your concern, consider making the complaint collectively. 

Focus on:

  1. Explaining the problem. 
  2. Identifying how this has impacted you or other people.
  3. Saying what you want the organisation to do to put things right.

Collecting evidence

You don’t have to send a lot of evidence, but it is good to keep it all together. 

  • Keep notes of any telephone calls including the name of the person you spoke to.
  • Save screenshots of anything that happens on social media. 
  • Keep texts and emails. 

Writing the complaint

  • Try to keep it focused and brief: be clear about the facts.
  • Use numbered lists and headings to make things clear.
  • Keep your tone objective and factual; avoid inflammatory language. 
  • Be clear what you are asking for – do you want an apology, compensation, a change in policy or something else? 
  • Were you harmed by the policy, or do you just want to warn them of the legal risk?
  • Double-check that you have covered everything you want to say: get a friend to check what you have written, or use AI. 

Use Sex Matters’ template letters: 

Complaining about male inclusion in a women’s sport? Tell the sports governing bodies what you think:

Complaining about inaccurate media coverage? Read our advice:

Concerned about a school policy? Use our school check tool to build your complaint:

Be persistent. You may need to follow up or escalate your complaint. 

Whistleblowing

If you think your employer is breaching its legal obligation for health and safety, you might want to raise the problem under your organisation’s whistleblowing policy (sometimes called a “speak up” policy). The charity Protect has free advice for whistleblowers, including information about protected disclosures.  

Time limits

If you are thinking about bringing a legal claim, be aware of time limits. 

For employment-related discrimination claims you generally have three months minus one day from the date the incident occurred before contacting ACAS to start your claim. You do not have to go through all the stages of the internal complaints or grievance process if you don’t think you are getting anywhere.

For other discrimination claims (such as for goods and services) in county courts, the time limit is usually six months minus one day. 

For a judicial review (where you are challenging a public body on a decision) you must bring the claim as soon as you can, and no later than three months after the decision, action or inaction you want to challenge. 

3. Tell someone

Get support and advice

Tell your MP

You can write to your MP about what has happened.

Make an official complaint

If the organisation is regulated you may be able to complain about it to an external body.

Tell the media

Getting a story into the media can be powerful. But speaking to the media comes with its own risks. Think about this carefully before you do it. Get in touch with us if you think you have a story. 

Tell Sex Matters 

You can tell Sex Matters – let us know whether you are just letting us know about something, or if you want help. We are a very small team and we cannot always help, but we may be able to point you in the right direction.

Sometimes making a complaint and following up is as far as you can go. 

You may get the result you want and be able to share that publicly. Or you may not get a resolution and you might decide to leave it. 

But even if you don’t get satisfaction, your complaint will have been logged and counted and may stack up with other people’s complaints. At least it ensures that the organisation is not hearing only from people promoting gender ideology. Sometimes your complaint or concern may help someone internally to raise the issue. 

If the problem persists, you could try making a complaint again later.

But if you have a good case, you might want to take legal action. 

Judicial review

This is a type of legal challenge that you can bring against a public authority. This is where you ask a judge to look at the lawfulness of their decision, action or inaction. The judge looks at the way the decision was made, not the decision itself. You can only after you have explored other ways of resolving the issue, .You can use judicial review to challenge the lawfulness of a decision, action or inaction for reasons including irrationality, illegality (acting beyond their powers), human rights or procedural unfairness. 

Employment tribunal 

Claims of discrimination and harassment against employers, trades unions, trade bodies and qualifications authorities are brought in the employment tribunal. Sex Matters case briefings cover employment tribunal claims in relation to sex and gender. If you are thinking about going to employment tribunal read Employment Tribunal Claims: tactics and precedents by Naomi Cunningham and Michael Reed. 

Civil claim in the county court 

Other claims for discrimination such as goods and services claims are brought in the county court. If it is a goods and services issue you may be able to bring it as a small claim (or simple procedure in Scotland). These are simple cases that don’t involve complicated issues or large amounts of money (usually less than £10,000). Advice Now has good guidance on how to do this. 

Information tribunal 

If you get to the end of the road with the Information Commissioner’s Office on a freedom-of-information decision or other decision made under the Data Protection Act 2018, you may be able to bring a claim to the information tribunal. 

First steps

If you are thinking of taking legal action you need to understand your options, and whether it is a good case. 

Solicitors are lawyers who give legal support, advice and representation. Barristers are lawyers who represent you in court. Some barristers will also work on a “direct access” basis. 

If you are thinking about bringing a legal case, a good first step is to talk to someone who has done it successfully. People who have brought gender-critical cases have benefited from support, encouragement and advice and are usually willing to pass it on. 

Our case briefings include details of the claimants, lawyers and cases. 

Funding

You will need to think about how you will fund a case.

  • Check whether you have legal expenses insurance – sometimes this comes with your home insurance.
  • If you are a trade union member this will usually include legal advice.
  • Are you a member of the Free Speech Union? It can help with free-speech problems, if you’ve got into trouble for something you’ve said or written (or refused to say or write).
  • Can you get support from the JK Rowling Women’s Fund? This offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life and in protected female spaces.The JKRWF does not hire a lawyer on your behalf, so you must already have sought legal representation and have a clear desired outcome to your case.
  • Are you able to crowdfund? Many gender-critical cases have been successfully crowdfunded. We can give you some advice on this. 
  • Can you get legal aid? If you’ve been charged with a crime, ask your solicitor or barrister if you’re able to get criminal legal aid. To check if you can get legal aid for a non-criminal (“civil”) case, use this government tool.

Sex Matters does not provide legal advice, but we may be able to point you in the right direction and we are always interested in talking to people who are thinking of bringing cases.