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In an exclusive interview for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, a woman who won her tribunal appeal over her beliefs about gender recognition, has said that JK Rowling was pivotal in raising the profile of her case.

Maya Forstater lost her role at a company in 2019 after she posted tweets about sex and gender, leading her to take her case to an employment tribunal on the basis that, amongst other claims, she had been discriminated against because of her belief – that biological sex is real, important, immutable and cannot be conflated with gender identity.

Ms Forstater lost the tribunal on the grounds that her beliefs were not protected under the Equality Act 2010 but appealed and in June 2021 the decision was overturned. The ruling meant that gender critical beliefs are a protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010.

This week Ms Forstater’s next employment tribunal starts, and it will decide whether her employer discriminated against her because of her beliefs.

Ms Forstater told presenter Emma Barnett that it was JK Rowling’s tweets in support of her case that raised the profile of it and brought wider interest.

Listen to Maya Forstater’s interview with Emma Barnett in full by heading to Â鶹ԼÅÄ Sounds and listening to the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4 Woman’s Hour podcast episode from 8 March.

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