Nicola Sturgeon is pressing ahead with reforms to Scotland’s gender recognition laws that critics say could compromise women’s safety. The changes would allow individuals to legally change their sex through a simple self-declaration, without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has warned the first minister that the system would be open to abuse by male sex offenders.
Under current UK law, trans people can change their sex marker on official documents such as passports. Around 5,000 trans people in the UK have obtained a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which gives them additional legal rights, including access to single-sex spaces. To get a GRC, a person must have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and show they have been living as the opposite sex for two years.
Sturgeon’s reforms would replace this with a system of “self-ID”, where any male who has lived as if they were of the opposite sex for three months and signs a self-declaration would be granted a GRC. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has noted that the requirement to “live as the opposite sex” is vague and risks reinforcing harmful sexist stereotypes.
Critics argue that the reforms would make it easier for male sex offenders to gain access to women-only spaces, such as prisons, hospital wards, and refuges. The Scottish government expects a large increase in the number of GRCs as a result, which could make providers more wary of offering single-sex services. One Scottish NHS trust has already said that privacy stipulations around GRCs make it impossible to accommodate a woman’s request for female-only care.
Single-sex spaces are important for women’s privacy, dignity, and safety. The reforms would extend GRC rights from those with gender dysphoria to any man who says they identify as female, including those who derive sexual gratification from cross-dressing or who seek access to vulnerable women. The legal uncertainty in the existing system has already led to cases where organisations have unlawfully discriminated against women, as Essex University was found to have done.
