Cambridge University’s women-only Newnham College will continue admitting trans women despite a recent backlash and the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruling which declared the official definition of women to be defined by biological identity.
Newnham College has been a learning institution since 1871, and has produced various successful intellectuals and public figures including broadcaster Clare Balding, novelist Iris Murdoch, and actress Miriam Margolyes, according to PinkNews. It is one of Cambridge University’s 31 constituent colleges.
The decision to continue admitting trans women amongst its students, goes against the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) recent interim guidance that recommended organizations and service providers throughout Britain, ban trans people from these spaces, which include changing rooms and toilets.
The U.K. Supreme Court ruled in the spring that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex instead of gender identity in non-discrimination laws. The case sided with the infamous anti-trans campaign group For Women Scotland, which has argued that sex-based protections for women should only apply to those that are female born, according to the BBC.
While many public figures have pushed against the college’s decision. College principal Alison Rose has responded stating their current policy had been “cleared by lawyers.”
“We are a women-only college, under the provisions of Schedule 12 of the Equality Act 2010 and our charter and statutes,” Rose wrote in a statement. “We are open to all female applicants [and] will consider at the admissions stage those applicants who hold a form of formal identification as female, on a current passport, driving license, birth certificate, or gender recognition certificate.”
The inclusion of trans women in female-only spaces, institutions, and competitions has been a constant conflict in both the U.K. and U.S. where political leaders and bodies continue to launch attacks on trans rights. Across the Atlantic in the U.S., education institutions struggle against the Trump Administration as it threatens to pull funding from universities that don’t comply with current DEI cuts and curriculum standards.
Newnham College’s stance sets an example for other institutions, encouraging them to stand their ground on the issues that matter, inclusion being one of them.
