A change to the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2018 will be scrutinised by Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.
The Gender Representation on Public Boards Amendment (Scotland) (Bill) was introduced by the Scottish Government to amend the 2018 Act. The new 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 change will be scrutinised by the Committee, before it reports its findings to the Parliament as a whole.
The Committee has today opened a call for views to ensure people can share their views on the proposed change.
Kaukab Stewart MSP, Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, said: “This Bill aims to make change the Gender Representation on Public Boards act, ensuring that the Parliament’s statute book is in compliance with recent rulings of the Court of Session.
“We want to ensure that the Government’s approach in this Bill does what it intends to do.
“If you have views on the proposal in the Bill, please share them with us in our call for views.”
The call for views is open today, Monday 8 January 2024, and will close on Monday 29 January 2024:
https://yourviews.parliament.scot/ehrcj/gender-representation-public-boards-bill
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