Women and Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch’s BBC Interview on Equality Act Reform

Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was rattled by BBC questioning over the technical aspects of the Tories’ newly-announced pledge to rewrite Equality Act’s definition of sex to mean ‘biological sex’, making it easier to bar trans people from single-sex spaces.

On Sunday evening, (3 June) the Conservatives pledged to update legislation to allow trans women to be banned from single-sex female spaces if they win the general election, by rewriting the Equality Act to make the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ mean ‘biological sex’, rather than ‘legal’ sex.

It is the first election pledge the Tories have issued regarding equality issues since the general election was announced for July 4, with prime minister Rishi Sunak saying the move would make it “simpler for service providers for women and girls, such as those running sessions for domestic abuse victims, to prevent biological males from taking part”.

Following this policy announcement, Badenoch appeared on BBC Radio Four on Monday morning (3 June) and was grilled by presenter Mishal Husain over how the policy would work in reality, including what paperwork would be required by a service provider to prove that a trans person was indeed trans.

Husain brought up the fact once someone has a GRC they can apply to correct their birth certificate, which would update their gender marker, and whether these would be invalid if a trans woman wants to access a single-sex space.

When probed about the details of barring trans individuals from single-sex spaces, Badenoch emphasized that decisions would be based on biological sex as it is at birth, opposed to legal sex. She stated that there have always been exceptions under the Equality Act for single-sex spaces.

Badenoch expressed that trivializing the issue by making it a paperwork matter was a distraction from the seriousness of the issue at hand. She reiterated that the safety of women and girls is paramount and that public authorities need clarity on definitions of sex and gender to act appropriately without fear of being accused of transphobia.

Sunak supported the policy change by highlighting that enhancing protections in a way that respects privacy and dignity is crucial for building a secure future for everyone across the country.

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