The Law on Women-Only Jobs

It's not Self-ID

Today Nottingham Women’s Centre advertised that it was recruiting someone to be part of its caseworker team. The role involves working “in a trauma informed way with women who may have complex and multiple needs”. Due to the sensitive nature of this work, the Centre has stipulated that “the post holder must be a self-identifying woman.”

Nottingham Women’s Centre, like other employers such as Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, are bound by the requirements of equality and non-discrimination law. An advertisement such as this has the potential to breach legal requirements upon employers and other duty bearers not to discriminate in hiring. Why then do we see example after example of employers, particularly those providing service to vulnerably women, purporting to cabin off a role to self-identified women?

This issue was part of the background facts in Adams v Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, where, having advertised the role of CEO under an exception in the Equality Act that permits female-only appointment, the Centre hired Mridul Wadhwa, a trans woman. The news of this appointment, coupled with comments from Wadhwa about the bigotry of rape victims requesting female-only care, prompted significant backlash. This ultimately led to a kafkaesque heresy hunt of Roz Adams, a counsellor working at the Centre who raised concern about how to respect the rights of women requesting female-only care.

How was a job advertised under exceptions in the Equality Act which don’t operate on a Self-ID bases nevertheless offered to a trans woman who is legally classed as male? Does a GRC make a difference to the law in this area? Is there any legal avenue open to those wishing to challenge hiring policies such as this? Let’s have a detailed look at Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010.