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Grounds in Equality Law: Before and After For Women Scotland

Shreya Atrey

The Modern Law Review2026https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.70029article
ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Grounds are the fulcrum of equality law. Thus, discrimination is discrimination when it is based on or because of certain kinds of personal characteristics or grounds such as race or sex. But there is no definition of grounds in general or a definition of grounds such as race or sex in particular in equality law. This article shows that in defining the ground of sex as biological sex in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers , the UK Supreme Court has undone the meaning of grounds which had developed in the UK since the first equality legislation came into force 60 years ago. It shows that grounds in equality law have been understood in a functional sense such that they signify a wide range of disadvantages that are attached to them rather than convey some objective or essential information about personal characteristics themselves. In failing to adopt a functional approach to grounds and in particular the ground of sex, For Women Scotland has fundamentally reshaped equality law in the UK.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.70029

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@article{shreya2026,
  title        = {{Grounds in Equality Law: Before and After For Women Scotland}},
  author       = {Shreya Atrey},
  journal      = {The Modern Law Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.70029},
}

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Grounds in Equality Law: Before and After For Women Scotland

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.