this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
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The Women’s Institute will no longer accept transgender women as members from April following the UK supreme court ruling on the legal definition of a woman, the Guardian can reveal.

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[–] Bassman27@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have you read the article? It literally says it’s due to the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.

The head of the institute expresses deep regret and is exploring legal routes to correct this..

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And they have to follow that law, or using it as an excuse to deny trans?

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Nah they can just ignore the law.

Seriously though, I'd guess their funding comes from the government in some way, and if they do not adhere to the laws governing that, their funding could be completely pulled.

Edit: To be more clear, it's likely the definition of woman in the eyes of the govt would determine what aid groups do with funds provided by the government if they say they serve that population, so it could be considered defrauding the govt if you're helping trans women with funds allocated only for "women" under the new definition.

I think it's fucked up the court ruled this way, but it's at least understandable why this institute would need to follow along unless they want to try to self-fund in some way, which might not work at all and then the good they are doing is completely lost. They also did say they're going to work on it from a legal perspective so unless that's just BS (could be) then it seems they are trying to do the right thing and advocate for trans rights.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

The WI gets no government funding. That would be strange.

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Why would it be strange?

Its extremely common for advocacy/care groups to get governmental funding

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It’s neither of those things.

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

"To be able to continue operating as the Women’s Institute - a legally recognised women’s organisation and charity - we must act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment and restrict formal membership to biological women only. However, this change is only in respect to our membership policy and does not change our firm belief that transgender women are women."

I didn't read their actual announcement before but it literally says exactly that.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

It’s a federation of social clubs for women. Their meetings have guest lecturers, they bake pies, and so on. You might as well expect the government to fund the Scouts.

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

They do in certain instances lmao https://www.girlscouts.org/en/support-us/donate/our-partners/DOL.html

Grants and tax incentives for organizations and such are contingent on various factors, the implication here is obviously that there is some negative ramification (likely financially) for not adhereing to what a "woman" is according to the law in relation to their status as a "legally recognized womens organization and charity".

You're using a UK domain so here's one from the UK lol https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/running-things-locally/grants-and-funds-for-your-local-group/grants-from-uk-scouts/uniformed-youth-fund/