Women’s Institute will no longer accept trans women as members from April | Women’s Institute

The Guardian has announced that the Women’s Institute will not accept trans women as members from April, following the UK supreme court’s decision on the legal definition of women.

Melissa Green, executive director of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, said the organization made this decision “with great regret and sadness,” adding that it “had no choice” but to exclude transgender women from its membership.

“Incredibly sadly, we will have to restrict our membership on the basis of biological sex from April next year,” Green said. “But the real message we want to give is that we continue to believe that trans women are women and this will not change.”

Membership in the 110-year-old organization will be limited to those registered as female at birth, with new members or renewers expected to confirm they meet the criteria.

This came a day after Girlguiding announced that transgender girls could no longer join the organisation, saying it had made the decision after taking legal advice as a result of the high court’s ruling.

“Transgender girls and young women, and others who were not registered as female at birth, will no longer be able to join Girlguiding as new young members,” Girlguiding said on Tuesday.

Green said the organization wanted trans women to remain “part of the WI family” and would be setting up new “sisterhood groups” open to everyone from April, which would be “a place where we get to know trans women as women and explore what it is to be a woman in the 21st century”.

Responding to the ban, Jude Guaitamacchi, founder of the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, blamed the move on the government’s failure to provide clarity. “Imagine being a group that welcomes generations of trans members who have been told who you can and cannot associate with, regardless of the group’s wishes,” they said. “This is cruel and a failure of this government to protect human rights, including freedom of association.”

The WI has said it will continue to “celebrate” the lives of trans women by enriching its members in 2023, following reports that it is facing an attempt by an internal group to overturn the inclusive policy that allows trans members to join the organization of more than 175,000 members – which has been in place since the 1970s and was formalized in 2015.

In April this year, the high court issued a historic and definitive ruling that the terms “woman” and “gender” in the Equality Act refer only to biological women and biological sex. The government is still considering guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on how to implement the decision.

Labor MP Rachel Taylor, a member of the women and equalities committee, said the draft EHRC guidance went “well beyond” the high court decision. “This is unfair, not necessary and does nothing to advance the rights of women and transgender people.”

Asked if WI was facing legal threats, Green said he had received fewer than 100 communications on the issue, many from the same people or outside the organisation, but confirmed there had been “reference to legal challenge”.

Green said he no longer uses social media to avoid toxic discussions. “I tried to remove myself from that situation as much as possible, because I think that draws you into the toxicity of this debate, and our role is to pull ourselves out of it and resolve it in a more reasonable, respectful way,” he said.

Green said some would welcome the decision, but he was also aware it would create “anger, sadness and disappointment.” The organization said there was a “large transgender population” among its members but did not give exact figures on how many people would need to leave.

“My hope is that the message the trans community takes from this is not betrayal, but our desire to maintain those friendships and support,” she said. “This has been a very difficult year for everyone, especially the trans community, but I hope that when this anger subsides the trans community will understand that we are here for them.”

On Wednesday the WI will announce the decision in a statement to its members, who are part of the 5,000 independent local WIs, saying: “It is with great sadness and regret that we have to announce that we will no longer be able to offer official membership to trans women from April 2026.

“As an organization that has proudly welcomed transgender women into our membership for over 40 years, this is not something we would do unless we feel we have no choice.”

Green said transgender WI members known to the organization’s leadership team had already been notified before the decision was announced.

“They were very respectful and understanding of the decision, but they are extremely upset,” he said. “I talked to an 80-year-old woman who has been with our organization for decades and she said it was one of the greatest experiences of her life and the only place in her 80 years where she was treated with respect as a woman.”

Green acknowledged that new fraternities, while not necessarily necessary, have the potential to be a flashpoint.

“It is absolutely our responsibility to ensure that fraternities are safe spaces.” [and] “One of the things that’s really important for us is to try to find a way for ourselves as an organization, but also for society more generally, to sort through some of these debates, to have different views, to disagree better.”

Green said the decision was taken by WI’s 138-strong council and board following extensive legal advice. She acknowledged the months following the high court decision were “very difficult” but added: “For over 110 years, we have shown as an organisation, that in the face of change and challenge, our members can rise to the challenge. They take on these difficult issues and find a way to overcome them. We are a strong group of women and I know we can find our way through this.”