Women’s Institute bans trans members
The Women’s Institute has banned transgender women from being members.
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The group announced today that it can no longer legally offer formal membership to transgender women from April next year in light of the Supreme Court judgment.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the Equality Act was based on biological sex, not preferred gender identity.
Melissa Green, the chief executive of the Women’s Institute, said: “It is with the utmost regret and sadness that we must announce that, from April 2026, we can no longer offer formal membership to transgender women.”
“As an organisation that has proudly welcomed transgender women into our membership for more than 40 years, this is not something we would do unless we felt that we had no other choice.”
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“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.
She added: “We will bring forward programmes to continue to extend fellowship, sisterhood and support to transgender women.”
The WI, the UK’s largest women’s membership organisation, said although it is still awaiting the formal EHRC guidance, “we have done our due diligence as an organisation and taken independent legal advice”.
It has campaigned nationally for women’s issues and offered self-development opportunities for women since 1915.
It is unclear what the decision means for the organisations’ current transgender members.
Membership of the 110-year-old organisation will be restricted to those who are registered female at birth, with new members or those renewing expected to confirm that they meet the criteria.