A Personal Reflection on the Legal Definition of a Woman: A Call for Expansiveness

Author: Kate, GSRD Community of Practice Group

I am a cis (female) member of the person centred Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity (GSRD) Community of Practice Group. I, like all in this group, have been struggling to come to terms with the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) definition of a woman, what it means for me personally, and for our work as therapists and our clients. 

The ruling seeks to define what is meant by a ‘woman’ within the EHRC Act, and seeks to protect the rights of women. Why is it, then, that I feel so shaken as a result of this ruling?

I have been grappling with this over the last few days and weeks, and also, once again, grappling with the question of what it means to me be a woman – something I have thought about deeply through my life, but with a sharper focus since being in the person centred GSRD Community of Practice Group over the last few years. 

Questions of who we are, our gender identity and expression, and what this means for how we are received by the world – our safety, our rights, and our life chances – are important topics to reflect on for us as person centred therapists, and have very real implications for our clients. 

Here are some personal thoughts about what feminism, and protecting gender-based rights, means to me. It is not an exhaustive list. 

It means not being defined by my biology. My experience of being a woman is expansive and multifaceted – it includes, but isn’t limited or defined by, my experience of my particular body. 

It means recognising the constructed nature of gender. 

It means being able to safely express myself, and my gender identity, in whatever way I choose. 

It means not being constrained, exploited, belittled or defined by what was seen between my legs at birth. 

It means having a right to privacy and bodily autonomy. 

It means being a woman in the way that fits for me. 

Looked at in this way, it is hard not to feel that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the act is an attack on my gender-based rights as I understand them. The ruling also raises questions in my mind of who can claim to speak for women, who gets to define women, and who gets to work for their safety and protection. 

I do not feel this interpretation of the law speaks for me, and I do not feel safer or more protected as a result of the judgement. 

I, like so many, have been subject to gender-based violence, and I have a very personal stake in wanting to ensure the safety of those most at risk of it. It is an issue best tackled, I believe, in full solidarity with all of us who are most affected. Human Rights Watch notes that trans women, in particular trans women of colour, face an elevated threat of violence. By effectively banning trans people from certain public places, forcing them into less safe alternatives, this decision heightens that risk. 

So what does this mean for us as therapists?

Person centred therapy means attempting to understand, empathise with and value our clients unconditionally. It involves taking a leap of imagination and compassion in order to try, as best we can, to walk in our client’s shoes. That is, to affirm their right to be themselves, according to their deeply held feelings, experience and beliefs.

As we said in a recent blog: 

One cannot both be ‘gender critical’ and ‘person-centred’.

The blog continues: 

“Either we as therapists believe that a gender critical belief is correct – that no matter what the client ‘believes’, sex is more important or significant than the client’s belief about their gender, OR we can believe that a person-centred approach is correct: the client’s belief about themselves has primacy over our own beliefs about gender. We cannot hold both positions.”

The blog emphasised:

“Our job is to facilitate an environment that enables our clients to fully understand themselves as they are, no matter how complex their identities.”

I believe this facilitative environment involves providing a place of safety for our clients to fully say, be and feel who they are. It involves respecting the lived experience of those who often aren’t accepted for who they are – and, on a political level, to fight for a fairer world for all. This is a fight which concerns all of us: it is not about prioritising one gender, body or set of experiences over another. 

I am in a process of discovering myself and what it means for me to be a woman, how this relates to how society sees me, my feelings about my body, and how I’m received as I move around in the world. Many of our clients are also in a process of figuring out who they are, how they express themselves and their gender, and how safe it feels to be doing this – some from a much less privileged position than mine, given that my experience of my gender tends to match what people assume about me. 

I hope to be met with compassion, valuing and understanding as I negotiate this complicated set of experiences, social pressures and constraints. If I want this for myself, it is the very least I can try to offer others. 

In the light of the Supreme Court ruling, I hope that as therapists we can provide and find that place of affirmation and safety – for ourselves, for each other, and for our clients.