The concept of gender and the school curriculum: a response to the Supreme Court judgement on the term ‘woman’ in the Equality Act

Abstract A 2025 Supreme Court judgement in the UK ruled that the terms ‘woman’, ‘man’, and ‘gender’ in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological sex. This ruling is leading to the revision of gender-based rights across the UK. In this paper, I focus on the implications for how the concept of gender is taught in schools. While the ruling makes no claim to authority in this domain, it does come with the likely consequence that schools may be pressured to teach a concept of gender equated with biological sex. I argue that such a conceptual revision should not be taught as the default in schools. This is because a concept of gender, equated with biological sex, makes holding meaningful, critically engaged conversations with young people about how to make sense of important questions more difficult. Children’s ability to think about and engage in discussions about sex and gender, central concepts in their lives, would be aggravated and they would be less likely to be exposed to the existence of such discussions. This is harmful in itself, particularly to oppressed groups, but it also undermines the basic educational aim of developing rationality.