THE First Minister is set to meet with a campaign group which is pushing to change the Scottish Government's definition of "woman".
Gender-critical campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) is set to meet with John Swinney following the conclusion of their case before the Supreme Court, The Times reports.
The First Minister appeared at an SNP International Women's Day event in Edinburgh on Saturday, where he was met with demonstrators from the group and agreed to meet with them after a verdict is reached.
Marion Calder, co-director of For Women Scotland, told The Times: “I told him [Swinney] of our grave concerns regarding the Government’s stance, and the fact that they had refused to engage with women of our view.
“One of our main complaints is that neither the First Minister nor his ministers has taken the time to listen properly to the voices of those women who have opposed their legislation, so I welcome that he spoke to us today.
“He said he recognised and understood that there were differing views, and he agreed to meet with us after the verdict of the court. He was at pains to say whatever the result, he would support the rule of law.”
For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers was heard by five judges in the Supreme Court in November.
The campaign group took the Scottish Government to court over its definition of “women” in the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act.
The law seeks to ensure that non-executive members on public boards are made up of at least 50% women.
The Scottish Government had initially defined “women” as those living as women or those who intended to or already gone through the process of legal gender recognition.
But FWS argued that this did not line-up with the separate definitions of women and transgender women in the Equality Act.
After losing the initial judicial review FWS were then successful on appeal, which resulted in the Scottish Government changing the definition in the Act.
It now states that “woman” is defined by the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act 2004, meaning those with a full GRC can legally be defined as women for the purposes of the legislation.
But FWC remained unhappy with the definition and called for a second judicial review, with their lawyer, Aidan O’Neill KC, arguing that allowing transgender people to change their legal sex with regards to the Equality Act would “run a coach and horses through the preservation of safe spaces for women and single-sex provision for women”.
A verdict on the case could be delivered this month, according to The Scotsman.
