Scottish universities are under fire for refusing to bar men from women’s spaces – more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled sex in law is based on biology.
Women’s rights campaigners insist ‘time has run out’ for higher education chiefs to overhaul gender-neutral policies in relation to single-sex spaces and women’s sports.
It comes after the equalities watchdog confirmed that access to toilets and changing rooms must be based on biological sex.
Campaign group Women Won’t Wheesht (WWW) says its investigation has found just one out of Scotland’s 16 universities has a clear biological sex-based policy.
Only Glasgow Caledonian University has set out a straightforward position on access to toilets and changing rooms aligned with sex at birth.
Guidance by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) makes clear biological males identifying as women should not use single-sex spaces.
The code of practice was published last week, following last year’s Supreme Court ruling that ‘woman’ under the Equality Act is defined by biological sex.
It is now before Parliament, with MPs and peers having 40 days to raise any concerns. If there are no objections, the guidance will become statutory.
The equalities watchdog confirmed that access to toilets and changing rooms must be based on biological sex
Only Glasgow Caledonian University has set out a straightforward position on access to toilets
Critics say it must force a rethink across Scottish campuses where they say gender ideology has become entrenched.
WWW says universities must stop ‘burying their heads in the sand’ and bring policies into line with the law.
According to its research, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, St Andrews, Strathclyde and Stirling universities, as well as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, openly promote gender-neutral access.
Eight others – Edinburgh Napier, Queen Margaret, Highlands and Islands, Abertay, Robert Gordon, Heriot-Watt and the University of the West of Scotland as well as Glasgow School of Art – did not appear to have current published policies.
WWW co-founder Clare Blom said: ‘Female students are being expected to surrender privacy and boundaries, then smeared as bigots if they object.’
‘Universities cannot continue dragging their heels – time is up and they must now comply with the law.’
A University of Stirling spokesman said it had been waiting for EHRC guidance. Universities Scotland, the umbrella body representing the sector, was contacted for comment.