Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 explained

Short Title:	Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018
Type:	Scottish Act
Parliament:	Scottish Parliament
Long Title:	An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision about gender representation on boards of Scottish public authorities.
Year:	2018
Citation:	2018 asp 4
Introduced By:	Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP
Royal Assent:	8 March 2018
Commencement:	1 December 2018 (in part), 29 May 2020 (in part)
Status:	amended
Original Text:	https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2018/4
Legislation History:	https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/gender-representation-on-public-boards-scotland-bill
Revised Text:	https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2018/4/contents

The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which received royal assent on 9th March 2018.^[1]

The Act is designed to make more public boards in Scotland more diverse in terms of gender to be more representative of Scotland.

The Act requires all organisations with public boards to encourage applications from women. The Act requires that when there is a vacancy, there must be more than one candidate and at least one candidate must be a woman and one candidate must not be a woman.

Amendments

Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2024

Originally, the act specified that the definition of a woman "includes a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (within the meaning of section 7 of the Equality Act 2010) if, and only if, the person is living as a woman and is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of becoming female."

For Women Scotland initially won a judicial review against the act: the definition of "woman" was deemed to be outside of the scope of the Scottish Parliament.^[2] This was reversed upon appeal on the basis that the definition of sex was "not limited to biological or birth sex".^[3]

After the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2024 was passed, the definition of "women" was removed.^[4]

Notes and References

1. act . 2018 . 4 . Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018.
2. Web site: For Women Scotland v the LA & the Scottish Ministers . 2022-02-18 . Judiciary of Scotland . Judiciary of Scotland . Lady Dorrian said: “The fact that an appropriate percentage for a representation objective in relation to one protected characteristic may not be proportionate and appropriate to another characteristic highlights why it is important to apply an individual approach to the characteristics and to focus in each case on those who share a relevant protected characteristic. ... the definition of woman adopted in the 2018 legislation includes those with the protected sex characteristic of women, but only some of those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.” .
3. News: 2023-11-01 . Campaigners lose definition of 'woman' appeal bid . BBC News . 2024-08-26.
4. act . 2024 . 12 . Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2024.