Cambridge University’s oldest female-only college has defied a landmark Supreme Court ruling by opening its doors to students who “self-identify” as a woman.
Newnham College has crafted a new gender policy which allows “female-identifying individuals” born as male to apply.
The women-only college has been accepting trans students since 2017, but the fresh policy ensures this remains the case in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.
The common-sense ruling confirmed that a woman was an adult human female, and established that those born as male but now identify as female cannot access women-only spaces.
Female-only Newnham College has been accepting transgender students since 2017
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The move has sparked outrage among campaigners, who have vowed to report Newnham College to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Charity Commission.
Cambridge’s Society of Women co-founder Maeve Halligan said the new policy means that it is “no longer an all-female college”.
But the college’s principal Alison Rose told students the latest move has been given the green light by the college’s lawyers and it would ensure the college remains “inclusive”, according to a letter seen by the Daily Mail.
Maya Forstater, the chief executive of human rights charity Sex Matters, said: “Following the Supreme Court’s clarification that the Equality Act 2010 follows the ordinary meaning of the words male and female, the college should have been urgently reconsidering its policy to bring it back into line with the law.
Cambridge’s Society of Women co-founder Maeve Halligan (centre) said the new policy means that it is ‘no longer an all-female college’
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“Instead, it has been looking around for loopholes. This is fruitless and foolish.”
In an email to students last week, Ms Rose wrote: “We are open to all female applicants.
“We will consider at the admissions stage those applicants who hold a form of formal identification as female on a current passport, driving licence, birth certificate or gender recognition certificate.”
Ms Rose is believed to have held a meeting with students at Newnham to discuss the new policy last month.
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Attendees said the college principal labelled the landmark Supreme Court ruling a “mess”, before affirming that Newnham “is not a single-sex space”.
Ms Halligan said: “The category of woman is being totally usurped, hijacked and attacked.
“Sexism is written into the history of Cambridge University and now it’s come back in disguise.
“This historic college has some of the most famous alumni, such as Germaine Greer.
“I can only imagine what she would think if she saw what this college’s new admissions policy was now.”
Newnham College was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, which sought to make it easier for women to gain an education at the university – commonly ranked the world’s best.
The college describes itself as being “run by women, for women”.
It currently has around 400 undergraduate students and 300 postgraduate students enrolled.