High Court leaves ruling against app that excluded transgender woman intact
Australia’s High Court has refused to hear an appeal in a case over a transgender woman excluded from a women-only social media app, leaving in place a ruling that she was directly discriminated against. A human rights law professor says the decision also has implications for employers, who cannot exclude transgender women from recruitment initiatives designed to increase women’s representation.
Roxanne Tickle was excluded from Giggle for Girls in 2021 after its chief executive, Sall Grover, judged her appearance to be male. The Full Federal Court found the exclusion was direct discrimination based on gender-related appearance, raised her compensation from $10,000 to $20,000, including $8,000 in aggravated damages, and capped appeal costs payable by Grover and the app at $100,000. The court rejected the argument that a women-only space intended to promote equality justified the exclusion.
In short
- High Court refusal leaves the discrimination ruling in place.
- Tickle’s compensation was doubled to $20,000.
- Employers are warned not to exclude trans women from women’s recruitment drives.
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The case for
The ruling reinforces that transgender women are protected from direct discrimination based on gender-related appearance, and that a women-only purpose does not automatically justify excluding them. Applying that principle to recruitment initiatives could help ensure transgender women share in efforts to improve women’s representation and are treated equally under the law.
The case against
Those who support sex-specific spaces argue that organisations should be able to define eligibility by sex where a women-only setting serves a distinct purpose, including addressing disadvantage or supporting privacy and safety. They may worry that treating gender identity or appearance as decisive can limit that discretion and make it harder to design initiatives around the barriers faced by people classified as female at birth.
Explained simply
Australia’s federal anti-discrimination law protects people from discrimination because of gender identity. The law can apply to services such as social media apps, as well as to decisions about who may use them.
Roxanne Tickle was removed from Giggle for Girls, an app set up for women, after its chief executive judged her appearance to be male. A federal court found that excluding her amounted to direct discrimination based on gender-related appearance; the High Court’s refusal to hear an appeal leaves that ruling in place.
The case matters beyond the app: it may guide how organisations apply rules for women-only services and initiatives. A human rights law professor says employers running programmes to increase women’s representation cannot exclude transgender women.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Landmark ‘what is a woman’ ruling means Australian employers cannot exclude transgender women from female-only recruitment drives”.