Category Archives: Gender

Impasse over EHRC single-sex spaces guidance ‘distracting from other issues’

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Staff at human rights body said to be ‘desperate for regime change’ over inertia after court’s legal definition of a woman

The ongoing impasse over guidance from the UK’s human rights watchdog on access to single-sex spaces is distracting from other pressing issues, including the rise of the far right, insiders have told the Guardian.

Some members of staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are described as “desperate for regime change” ahead of the new chair, Mary-Ann Stephenson, taking up her post in December.

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All-male lineup take top slots at ABC Sydney after Chris Bath’s shock departure

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Director of audio concedes ‘there is always more to do’ on diversity as station staff express dismay at dearth of female presenters

ABC radio’s chief, Ben Latimer, says “there is always more to do” on diversity after Chris Bath was replaced with a male presenter on ABC Sydney, leaving the station with an all-male lineup from Breakfast through to Drive in 2026.

Bath, who announced her resignation after only one year on Monday, will be replaced by Thomas Oriti in the key Drive slot, which was vacated by the veteran broadcaster Richard Glover after 26 years.

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Phillipson calls for ‘less public debate’ from EHRC on gender recognition rules

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Minister responds to calls from watchdog’s chair to approve new guidance on transgender rights ‘as soon as possible’

Bridget Phillipson has urged the equalities watchdog to focus more on helping ministers do their jobs and less on having public debates as a row continues about how long it will take to implement new rules on gender recognition.

The comments by Phillipson, who is the equalities minister as well as the education secretary, come after the Equality and Human Rights Commission took the unusual step of urging the government to “act with speed” in approving its statutory guidance on responding to a landmark supreme court ruling on transgender rights.

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Queensland puberty blocker ban reinstated by health minister hours after supreme court overturned it

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Move comes after parent successfully challenged LNP’s previous ban on new patients under 18 accessing hormone treatments for gender dysphoria

The Queensland health minister has issued a new order banning the prescription of puberty blockers for transgender patients, just hours after the state’s supreme court ruled the government’s first attempt was unlawful.

On Tuesday, Justice Peter Callaghan ruled in favour of a challenge by the parent of a transgender child, judging that the January directive establishing the ban was made improperly and was unlawful.

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Women launch class action against ADF alleging widespread sexual violence, misogyny and harassment

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Female members of the military shouldn’t have to fight off their colleagues on a daily basis, lawyer says

Women who allegedly suffered widespread and systemic sexual abuse, harassment, discrimination and victimisation while serving in the Australian defence force are taking part in a class action against the commonwealth.

There are four applicants in the class action, whose names are withheld for legal reasons, but any woman subjected to sexual violence, sexual harassment or discrimination while working in the ADF between 12 November 2003 and 25 May 2025 is eligible to join them.

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Giorgia Meloni condemns Italian union leader for ‘Trump courtesan’ remark

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Prime minister says CGIL head is ‘clouded by resentment’ and accuses the left of hypocrisy towards women

Giorgia Meloni has condemned the boss of Italy’s biggest trade union after he referred to the prime minister as the “courtesan” of Donald Trump.

Maurizio Landini, the leader of CGIL, which organised several pro-Palestinian protests before the Gaza ceasefire deal, made the remarks on TV on Tuesday, the day after world leaders, including Meloni, met in Egypt for a Middle East peace summit.

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Macrons to submit scientific evidence to US court to prove Brigitte was not born a man

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French president and wife allege rightwing influencer Candace Owens is using defamatory attacks against them to boost media profile

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife plan to present scientific evidence to a US court to prove that Brigitte Macron was not born a man, the lawyer representing them in a defamation suit has said.

The couple filed the suit in July against Candace Owens, a rightwing influencer, and her business, alleging continuing defamatory attacks against them in order to boost the profile of her media platform, gain more audience and make money.

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British ice dancer and same-sex skating partner to compete in Finland after rule change

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Mille Colling and Emma Aalto given go-ahead to compete in qualifier for national championships next month

A British ice dancer and her skating partner are to become Finland’s first same-sex team to take part in a competition after a rule change by the country’s skating federation.

Millie Colling, 20, who was born in Gateshead and moved to Finland at the age of six, and Emma Aalto, 19, will compete in a qualifier for the national championships next month after pressing for an amendment to the rules to allow them to enter as a team.

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Scottish ministers face legal action over policies ‘inconsistent’ with UK gender ruling

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Campaign group that won supreme court case brings challenge over transgender guidance in schools and prisons

A campaign group that won a legal victory on the definition of gender is taking action against the Scottish government over policies it says are “inconsistent” with the ruling.

For Women Scotland’s legal battle with Scottish ministers over the definition of a woman ended in the UK’s supreme court, which ruled in April that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to a biological woman and biological sex.

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Angela Rayner: No 10 officials guilty of ‘self-harm’ by briefing against ministers

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Exclusive: Deputy PM hits out at targeting of herself and others – often women – with negative headlines

Angela Rayner has hit back at anonymous No 10 officials who have briefed against senior cabinet ministers in recent months, warning them they are committing “self-harm”.

The deputy prime minister launched an outspoken defence of herself and other colleagues – often women – who have found themselves the subject of negative headlines in recent months, with several being tipped for the sack at a future reshuffle.

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Chinese officials warn women comedians that men are no laughing matter

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The warning comes after a string of shows by women comedians joking about men went viral

Chinese provincial officials have warned comedians against stirring up discord between the genders, instructing them to criticise constructively rather than “for the sake of being funny”.

The warning came from authorities in eastern Zhejiang province on WeChat over the weekend after a comedian referred to her allegedly abusive marriage in a performance that went viral on Chinese social media.

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Pupils in England to be taught law behind sex and gender identity, new guidance says

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Updated RSHE guidance says curriculum should be ‘age appropriate’ and lifts strict age limits around teaching gender

Pupils in England should be taught what the law is on biological sex and gender reassignment, but schools must be “careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact”, according to new government guidance.

The updated relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance, published on Tuesday, says schools “should not teach as fact that all people have a gender identity” and must avoid any suggestion that social transitioning offers a “simple solution” to feelings of distress or discomfort.

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UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics, report finds

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Report’s author raises ‘stark concerns about barriers to academic freedom’

UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research, according to a report.

The report, by Prof Alice Sullivan of University College London, recommends that students and staff “taking part in freedom-restricting harassment should face consequences commensurate with the seriousness of the offence”.

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Transgender campaigners call for European rights body to report on UK

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Alliance of groups wants Council of Europe to investigate implementation of supreme court ruling on biological sex

A collection of groups campaigning on transgender issues have urged Europe’s main human rights body to investigate the UK over the implementation of the supreme court’s ruling on gender.

In a joint letter to the Council of Europe, the organisations said the situation in which transgender people were likely to be barred from using toilets of their acquired sex or joining single-sex organisations placed them in an “intermediate zone” of gender, saying this was a violation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR).

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Melbourne’s Savage Club to allow ‘lady guest’ diners as cost of living strikes men-only haven

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Falling attendance at club’s dining rooms is ‘uneconomic and dispiriting for staff members’, president says, as six-month trial starts

“Lady guests” will be welcomed into one of Australia’s oldest private clubs as the cost-of-living crisis pushes the men-only Melbourne Savage Club into a six-month trial of mixed dining.

In a survey of the club’s members last year, just 2% (four men) of respondents voted in favour of admitting women as card-carrying members, but they were keen to allow an increase in guests.

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Scottish government faces legal action over failure to implement biological sex ruling

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Campaign group accuses Holyrood of ‘intolerable’ delays to new policies required after landmark case

The Scottish government has been given a deadline to implement the UK supreme court’s ruling on biological sex across all public bodies or face further legal challenges.

Sex Matters, the UK-wide gender-critical campaign group, has threatened legal action in 14 days if ministers continue “intolerable” delays to new policies and guidance required by April’s landmark ruling that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 does not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates.

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Anthony Weiner says female politicians ‘judged much more harshly than men’

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Weiner makes comment as he campaigns for New York City council seat years after sexting scandal

Anthony Weiner says politicians such as him and Donald Trump can survive scandals while qualified candidates including Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton lose elections because “women get judged much more harshly than men do”.

“I do believe that,” Weiner said Friday on ABC’s The View amid his run for a New York City council seat years after he crashed out of Congress in the wake of a sexting scandal that some argue aided Trump in clinching his first presidency in 2016.

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MPs fear UK equality watchdog may take months to sign off gender guidance

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Exclusive: EHRC insiders believe process could drag on until after its chair is replaced in November

Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have warned, amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog.

While the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to complete the process by the end of July, a series of insiders have told the Guardian they believe this may not happen until after the watchdog’s controversial chair, Kishwer Falkner, is replaced in November.

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‘A very real possibility of being detained’: LGBTQ+ Australians cancel travel to US for World Pride

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Mik Bartels is among those fearful of Trump’s America, partly because their research includes 20 words on US government’s list of banned terms

Queer Australians are axing travel plans to Washington DC’s World Pride festival, as Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ rights lead to fears of discrimination at the US border and potential attacks.

People skipping the international event join other Australians and travellers from around the world who are avoiding the US after Trump’s inauguration and a string of controversial policies enacted in the early months of his second term as president.

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LGBTQ+ charities warn of ‘genuine crisis’ for trans people after UK ruling

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Charities say the judgment creates ‘a legal framework that simply cannot uphold the dignity’ of trans people

Fourteen national LGBTQ+ charities have written to Keir Starmer seeking an urgent meeting to discuss what they describe as “a genuine crisis for the rights, dignity and inclusion of trans people in the UK” after the supreme court’s ruling on biological sex.

The UK supreme court ruled last month that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred only to “a biological woman” and to “biological sex”, with subsequent advice from the equality watchdog amounting to a blanket ban on trans people using toilets and other services of the gender they identify as.

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