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- Committee approves amendment to Gender Representation on Public Boards Act
Committee approves amendment to Gender Representation on Public Boards Act
15 March 2024
A change to the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2018 has been recommended for approval by Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill will remove the definition of “woman” in section 2 the 2018 Act, following a decision of the Court of Session made on 18 February 2023.
The specific definition that this short Bill will remove is: ““woman” includes a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (within the meaning of section 7 of the Equality Act 2010) if, and only if, the person is living as a woman and is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of becoming female”.
The Committee considered written evidence from a range of individuals and heard from the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice during its scrutiny of the Bill.
The Parliament is due to consider the Bill in the coming weeks.
Karen Adam MSP, Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, said:
“Our Committee is satisfied that this Bill provides a technical fix, in order to tidy up the statute book, following the rulings of the Court of Session.
We would like to thank everyone who shared their views with us during the consultation period.”
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