The money spent on legally defining women by their genitals

24 April 2025

"This doesn't come cheap," a BBC journalist noted about the campaign to legally define women by their biological sex rather than gender by the organisation For Women Scotland. She's right: "The entire cost of this judicial review was over £400,000," the organisation's director Susan Smith said.

That amount was collected through donations, among which a £70,000 donation from Harry Potter author JK Rowling, renowned for her anti-trans stances. But that doesn't take into account the public cost of the court case.

The Scottish government has had to spend over £60,000 of taxpayers' money in order to defend their legislation. Back in 2022, the Scottish government had to pay out £147,500 after losing a case over the definition of 'woman'. This is the third major legal challenge that For Women Scotland has initiated over the definition of 'woman' in law and policy.

While the UK government’s legal costs in the Supreme Court case involving For Women Scotland aren’t public, similar cases suggest they’re likely comparable to those of the Scottish Government.

For Women Scotland cites male violence to justify excluding some women from women's spaces, yet funding to tackle violence from cisgender men remains scarce. In England and Wales, 98% of prosecuted sexual assaults are by men, and one in four women faces domestic abuse. Five British organisations have urged the UK government to commit to support such services more.