The Women’s Institute (WI) has announced it will no longer offer formal membership to transgender women, a change it says is made with "sincere regret." The new policy will take effect in April 2026.
The organization, which runs thousands of local branches across the UK, stated the decision follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. That ruling clarified that under equality law, a woman is defined by biological sex for the purposes of single-sex organizations.
Until now, the WI had allowed transgender women—individuals who are biologically male but identify as women—to join.
Melissa Green, chief executive of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, called it a "difficult decision." She explained the legal position means the charity, as a legally recognized women's organization, must now "restrict formal membership to biological women only" to comply with the judgement.
"We intend to be clear that whilst the law restricts membership, it's our firm organisational belief that transgender women are women," Green told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. She added that the move ends "40 years of fellowship and sisterhood with those women."
The WI plans to create a new national network of "sisterhood groups" for branches that wish to offer a "trans-inclusive space" to maintain "friendship and support for transgender women."
Green said the organization's council majority wished to remain trans-inclusive, but "that legal option wasn't open to us." She acknowledged the change would cause "sadness," noting some transgender members have been part of the WI for decades.
The announcement comes a day after Girlguiding said it would ban transgender girls from joining. Both decisions relate to the 2010 Equality Act and the April Supreme Court ruling, which stated that if a single-sex organization admits people of a different biological sex, it can no longer be legally considered single-sex.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is updating its guidance on the law. Green said the WI decided to act now rather than wait, stating, "society needs organisations such as my own to lead." She did not specify how the membership restriction would be enforced, saying details would be proportionate and await EHRC guidance. The WI declined to state how many transgender women are currently members.
The decision has drawn strong reactions from advocacy groups.
Helen Belcher, chair of TransActual, said the WI was "pushed to force out trans people, against the organisation's will." She blamed "a handful of extremists" and called on the government to "act urgently to rectify the situation," warning of the impact on individuals' social support networks.
Conversely, Helen Joyce, director of Sex Matters, supported the move, stating, "A group set up for women must be able to keep out all men, even the ones who are very insistent that they feel like women." She argued the distinctive nature of single-sex groups is "lost if people of the opposite sex are admitted."
The WI, which has 175,000 members, acknowledges that members "will feel very strongly on both sides of this."
