Judicial ruling on legal definition of ‘woman’ will have UK politicians sighing with relief

Members of the campaign group Labour Women’s Declaration outside the supreme court in London on Wednesday. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press/Rex/Shutterstock

For all the negative stereotypes, many politicians are thoughtful, diligent and caring. But they are also human, and it is their more self-serving instincts that may have caused some to breathe a sigh of relief at the supreme court ruling on gender recognition.

After a challenge by the gender-critical group For Women Scotland – which started out as a dispute over Scottish government legislation about female representation on public boards – judges ruled that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to biological women and biological sex.