NFWI updates membership rules in light of Supreme Court judgment

This morning NFWI has released an update on the membership rules in light of the Supreme Court Judgement in regards of the definition of a woman under the Equality Act (2010).

It is with devastating news that from April 2026 the NFWI can no longer legally offer formal membership to transgender women in light of this judgement.

As a very inclusive group, this has brought us great sadness and invite anyone that is effected or upset by the announcement to please reach out to us. You can message us at sevenhillswi@live.co.uk.

It is heart-breaking news, and I’m actively in contact with NFWI. There are talks of launching a national network of local WI Sisterhood groups, which will offer monthly opportunities for all people, including transgender women, to come together to socialise, learn from each other, and share their experiences of living as women. As of yet we don’t know much around these.

You can read the full press release here: Press Releases | National Federation of Women's Institutes and watch the Chair Jeryl Stone explain here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/3193362767489986

We can assure you that we don’t agree with this decision from the Supreme Court, and it is not Seven Hills WI decision.

We are here for you, it affects us all, and you are not alone in this.

Katy

Your WI President.

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Q&A for circulation to Federations and WIs 

Why are you announcing this now?  

• Since the Supreme Court’s judgment, we have been working closely with legal advisers to understand the impact of the ruling on our organisation and what we must do next. 

• Due to the impact we know this will have on our members, we have considered the issue extensively to ensure we have explored all options available to us before making any changes. 

• We have now finished that work and have regrettably concluded that we have no other choice but to make these changes to our membership criteria if we are to continue to operate legally as a women’s organisation and charity. 

• Although we are still awaiting formal guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on how to apply this judgment in practice, we have done our due diligence as an organisation and taken independent legal advice.  

• We also owe it to our members to be upfront and honest with them about the issues that might affect them, so we wanted to inform them as soon as we could. We also want to ensure that while our legal change is clear, our intention to maintain our sisterhood with transgender women is equally clear.  

What would happen if you didn’t make this change? 

• While we are still awaiting formal, comprehensive guidance from the EHRC on how to apply the judgment in practice, as a charity we must abide by the law.  

• Not doing so would leave us at risk of costly legal challenge and potential regulatory action from the Charity Commission. We have a public duty to ensure our charity is not in breach of the law. 

What happens now to existing transgender women members? 

• While we can no longer offer transgender women formal memberships from 1 April 2026 (the start of our new subscription year), we remain committed to continuing our support for transgender women through other activities outside of formal membership.  

• Our transgender members can continue to attend membership meetings and events during the current membership year. 

• We are encouraging members with concerns or questions about the new policy to contact us directly at inclusion@nfwi.org.uk so that we can provide support.  

• We will be working with our transgender members and our wider membership between now and April 1 2026 to support them and to clarify the details of our new membership policy. 

How will you continue to support and engage with transgender women outside of traditional memberships? 

• We remain clear that our strong belief is that transgender women are women. They have been part of the WI family for 40 years and they will remain part of that family. 

• We know that many of our members will find this decision extremely painful, but we have been actively seeking alternative ways - outside of formal membership - of continuing to extend fellowship, sisterhood, and support to transgender women. 

• For example, in April 2026 we will be launching a national network of local WI Sisterhood groups, which will offer monthly opportunities for all people including transgender women, to come together to socialise, learn from each other, and share their experiences of living as women. 

• This is just one of several things that we are working on developing into full programmes with the support of existing members, NFWI staff, and trustees. These will be launched from April 2026, and we will provide more details on the full range of programmes in due course. 

Can you expand on the new activities being planned?  

We intend to launch these activities from 1 April 2026, and we are working to develop them with the support of members. 

Sisterhood Groups 

• In April 2026 we will be launching a national network of WI Sisterhood Groups. These informal social groups will offer a much-needed space where transgender women can be recognised, valued and treated with respect as women. These groups will be open to all. The NFWI will offer resources and materials to support the establishment of these groups and create new roles of local volunteer facilitators to lead these sessions. Through our Sisterhood groups we will maintain these spaces so that the WI can continue to be a place where transgender women are valued and respected as women. These groups will be optional. We will provide a blueprint, guidance and direct training and support from NFWI for WIs and federations who wish to set these up, and will further develop plans for these with our members. 

WI Supportership 

• We will also be extending our existing Supporter programme, accessed via a fixed annual donation, in April 2026, removing any restrictions to the transgender community and opening this option up to all.  

Brave Conversations  

• We will also be launching a new series of educational sessions on the Learning Hub (or Via as it will be known as from early next year). These sessions, known as Brave Conversations, will give a voice to the transgender community and a place where transgender women can share their stories. These educational sessions will be open to all and will be established to provide an opportunity, for all those who are interested, to gain a better understanding and insight into a topic that has sadly become so divisive and toxic in the media and where stories are often devoid of humanity or compassion. 

Where can I access more support or advice about this change? 

We know that this announcement will be extremely painful for many of our members, particularly our transgender members. For those transgender members that we know of we have already reached out to them and spoken to them to share this news. We are committed to supporting our transgender members with the impact of this announcement, and encourage them to reach out to us at inclusion@nfwi.org.uk so that we can make contact.  

Given the impact of this announcement, it was important to us to ensure members, WIs and federations were clear on the decision reached as early as possible. However, work to develop all the guidance and support that WIs and federations will need to apply this policy change in practice from April 2026 is currently underway.   

If you want to reach out to NFWI for advice, further clarification, or indeed support, please know you can, using inclusion@nfwi.org.uk or 020 7371 9300 Ext 2021.  

Ends.