Sex & gender not the same

The Scottish government has voted to amend the word gender to sex in legislation on the collection of forensic evidence, ensuring that a woman can request a natal female to examine her after a rape. 

Initial readings of the amendment went unopposed. Recently the intersectional rights of trans women were suggested as a reason to vote against the amendment, alongside there being a lack of females working in forensics. Refuting the belief that sex and gender are interchangeable terms, Johann Lamont MSP said: ‘If [they are] interchangeable, why resist an amendment which uses a term defined in law? If it doesn’t matter, why fear clarity?’ Lamont said that MSPs, including Humza Yousaf (see page 5), note the 2010 Equality Act defines sex and so the terms don’t share a definition.