How Do You Define A Woman? Not Like This!

 

So this is it. The fabled "Woman-Defining" ability of the Right.

Whatever one thinks of the principle involved, it is difficult to avoid an impression that the drafter's scope of competence was basically just 'symbolic grandstanding'.

This is a circular definition - and there is no actual (so far as I know) provisions for what "biological female" is to be defined as, in this legislation, the legislation it seeks to amend, etc. ... which, I suppose, means it's going to come down to leaving it up to the judiciary if this ever winds up actually in court.

While in the United Kingdom, a recent court decision of some salience had indeed made a call which the drafter would agree with (there, they went with "biological sex" if memory serves) ... considering how much the party pushing this legislation has complained about an "Activist Judiciary" here that is apparently inimical to their values and 'common sense', I am rather surprised they would seemingly be keen to have said institution also responsible for arbitrating what definitional test "biologically female" actually would be determined by.

An 'activist lawyer' who was pro-trans would be able to drive a proverbial truck through such a non-descript "definition" (and you can already see some hypotheticals proffered of exactly this nature over on certain sides of twitter - basically everything short of a 'double-x chromosome'. Technically, even Stuart Nash's unrepeatedably crude 'efforts' upon this front, as broadcast upon national radio a few months back, would be a standard that, whilst looking like 'biological female', with various medical procedures somebody born male would nevertheless be able to meet the standard of for legal purposes.)

There are other problems with this legislative proposal, as well - and, again, the cheap seats of social media turn out to have more legal drafting nous than the proposer when it comes to pointing various of them out. I was particularly fond of the one from one twitter user (@Mugasofa), who pondered:

"Hmm, so if a law refers to a "female cow", that means "human biological female cow""

After three years of jeering at Chris Hipkins about "defining a woman" ... one would have expected better for the loudest of his decriers upon that score than to proffer their own "We Define A Woman ... As A Woman!" effort as actual legislation.