BBC News｜英国最高法院对“女性”的定义作出裁决
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UK's top court rules on definition of woman
Host: It's been one of the most hotly contested cultural, social and political issues in recent years. The global question of how to define gender and biological sex and a landmark court ruling from the UK Supreme Court has now added to that debate.
UK Supreme Court: The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another.
Host: The ruling by Britain's highest court means that transgender people won't be identified under their chosen gender for legal purposes here in the UK. Effectively, the ruling says that trans women are not legally women, though the court also took pains to note that transgender people still have legal protections from discrimination. Our Europe regional editor Paul Moss outlined the background to this lengthy legal battle that has culminated in today's court judgment.
Paul Moss: The strange thing is it begins with a relatively minor case. Britain has a national parliament but also a Scottish parliament which legislates on issues like crime and health and in 2018 the Scottish parliament passed a law which was trying to encourage the participation of women in public boards. That's the people who run cultural organisations, or it could be hospitals, and they've provided various incentives to encourage more recruitment of women.
Cue the big question of our era. Do trans women count as women? Now, the Scottish Parliament said yes, when it came to encouraging this participation, trans women would be included. But a group called Women for Scotland challenged this legally. The case went all the way to the UK Supreme Court. And that led to the ruling which you just outlined, which says that for the purposes of the British Human Rights Act, the word women refers only to people who are born as a woman.
Host: And tell us about the reaction. Well, not surprisingly, that campaign group Women for Scotland are delighted they were celebrating outside the court, singing a song to the tune of a very well-known Scottish song.
Moss: So lots of delight there from the women who are campaigning for this. Obviously disappointment from the other side. As I said, it was a Scottish government which wanted to include trans women in the definition of women, but the Scottish First Minister, John Swinney, has now said he will accept the court's ruling. But real disappointment from people who campaign on trans rights issue.
Now, we heard the court emphasising that trans people are still protected from discrimination. You can't say, well, I'm not giving you a job because you're trans. But that wasn't enough for people like Maggie Chapman. She's a member of the Scottish Parliament, representing the Green Party, and she said she's deeply concerned about the impact the ruling will have on trans people.
Maggie Chapman: The protections that were mentioned in the judgment this morning, the protections against discrimination, against harassment, they do exist. but they are not currently protecting trans people who are suffering vilification, who are suffering attacks in the street, who are being demonised, who are being marginalised in so many different ways. Having spoken to a lot of trans people, the fear that they feel, the attacks that they feel has done serious damage to them.
Host: And Paul, this is an issue that goes far beyond Scotland's borders.
Moss: Indeed, something about the public bodies in Scotland now has had a ruling made by the British Supreme Court. So it will cover all spaces which are supposedly reserved for women in Britain. That could be hospital wards. That could be clubs which are designated for women.
As a result of this ruling, people will say, look, only people who are born women will be allowed to be admitted. But I should say also that British court rulings can be cited by other countries when they're considering this issue. So I think the implications of today's ruling will be considered around the world.
词汇表
hotly contested [ˈhɒtli kənˈtestɪd] 激烈争论的，热烈竞争的
gender [ˈdʒendə(r)] 性别（尤指社会文化差异，非生理差异）
biological sex [ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪkl seks] 生理性别（指在出生时被赋予的性别）
landmark court ruling [ˈlændmɑːk kɔːt ˈruːlɪŋ] 具有里程碑意义的法院裁决
UK Supreme Court [suːˈpriːm kɔːt] 英国最高法院（英国最高司法机构）
unanimous decision [juˈnænɪməs] 一致决定，一致判定
Equality Act 2010 [ɪˈkwɒləti] 2010年《平等法案》（英国旨在保障不同群体平等权利的法律）
counsel against [ˈkaʊnsl] 劝告反对，建议不要
triumph [ˈtraɪəmf] 胜利，成功
at the expense of [ɪkˈspens] 以…为代价
transgender people [trænzˈdʒendə(r)] 跨性别者
trans women [trænz ˈwɪmɪn] 跨性别女性（生理性别为男性，但自我认同为女性的人）
discrimination [dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃn] 歧视，区别对待
outline [ˈaʊtlaɪn] 概述，略述
lengthy [ˈleŋθi] 漫长的，冗长的
culminate [ˈkʌlmɪneɪt] 达到顶点，以…告终
national parliament [ˈpɑːləmənt] 国家议会（英国的最高立法机构）
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