Half of Brits support re-writing Equality Act to make sex mean “biological sex”, poll shows
June 11, 2024A new poll ahead of the general election reveals the level of support among Britons for amending the Equality Act to define sex as “biological sex”.
The Conservative Party has committed to changing the 2010 Equality Act to make it easier to exclude trans people from single-sex spaces, even though current legislation already includes provisions for exclusions.
In a letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in February 2023, Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch requested the organisation, recently controversial for its stance on trans rights, to advise on the “benefits or otherwise” of reforming the Equality Act.
The EHRC responded to the request in April that year with an open letter. It advised Badenoch that redefining sex would “bring greater legal clarity” and better facilitate the exclusion of trans people by certain groups. EHRC Chairwoman, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, wrote: “As things stand, a women's book club, for instance, may have to admit a trans woman who had obtained a [Gender Recognition Certificate]. On the biological definition, it could restrict membership to biological women.”
However, the EHRC also noted that disadvantages would arise, such as trans men being able to cite a cis man’s higher pay in equal pay claims or bring direct or indirect sex discrimination claims “as a woman.”
According to ‘MSN’, a YouGov poll published on Monday (10 June) indicates that 50 percent of Britons support the Conservative pledge to amend the Equality Act to define sex as “biological sex.” In contrast, 23 percent oppose the pledge, and 27 percent are unsure.
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Support for the pledge is higher among voters aged 65 and over, with about 63 percent in favour of the change and 12 percent opposed. Among 18-24 year-olds, the only age group more likely to oppose the changes, 31 percent support the change while 43 percent oppose it.
Support also varies significantly by political affiliation, with 30 percent of Labour supporters in favour of the policy, compared to 71 percent of Conservative voters and 48 percent of Liberal Democrat voters. Men are more likely to support the change than women, despite the change being framed as a protection for women's spaces.
Despite these figures, the policy receives less support than many other election pledges and policies in the YouGov survey. More respondents support pledges like using private sector capacity to reduce NHS wait times or creating a publicly owned renewable energy provider, both backed by Labour.
Interestingly, the top three most-supported pledges are from the Liberal Democrats: awarding blue flag status to rivers to protect them from sewage discharges (87 percent support), cutting taxes on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste (83 percent support), and providing free school meals for all primary school children in England (74 percent support).
The least popular pledge comes from Labour, proposing to reduce the voting age to 16, with only 32 percent supporting the proposal and 59 percent opposed.
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