It sometimes feels like every regulatory body in Britain today misuses its influence to advance progressive causes. A welcome exception is the Financial Conduct Authority, which last week decided to allow firms to choose whether they use sex or gender as the definition of ‘woman’ for reporting on their representation on corporate boards.
It is clearly not the role of a financial services regulator to attempt to define ‘man’ and ‘woman’. Out of 540 responses to a consultation on the matter, all but one said they did not want trans women to be automatically included in the targets and data.
As the group Sex Matters has pointed out, there is no reason to believe that the perceived advantages and disadvantages of female workers are shared by men who self-identify as women. But should either sex or gender matter to the City watchdog? The FCA appears to think so, and is now setting out requirements for UK listed companies to ensure that 40 per cent of its board of directors and at least one senior board member are women.
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