Naomi Cunningham stands down as chair of Sex Matters
Today barrister Naomi Cunningham has stepped down as Sex Matters chair. She joined the Sex Matters board in February 2021 and became its chair, and later became the founding chair of the registered charity in April 2024. Her legal brilliance and clarity helped Sex Matters develop from an infant non-profit into an established charity. Our best wishes and gratitude go with her as she continues her vital work as a barrister defending sex-based rights.
Naomi says:
“It has become clear over the last several months that I cannot continue to reconcile my duties as a trustee of Sex Matters with the demands of an increasingly busy practice as a barrister in the same areas in which the charity operates and campaigns.
“I am immensely sad to resign, but will always feel proud to have played a part in an extraordinarily effective organisation, and privileged to have worked with such a talented and inspiring group of people.”
Dr Emma Hilton will take on the role of interim chair.
Sex Matters CEO Maya Forstater says:
“I am hugely grateful to Naomi Cunningham for the work that she has done as the first chair of Sex Matters, and for her equally important role as a barrister representing claimants using the law to fight for justice.
“She has a powerful intellect and terrifying cross-examination skills, but is also witty, friendly and warm. Speaking to the media, to parliamentary committees in Westminster and Holyrood, and in court, she has articulated perfectly the case for single-sex spaces and for the law to be clear.
“Like so many people, I have cheered her on at every step. I have also had the pleasure and privilege of working closely with her in partnership as CEO, as we brought Sex Matters on the journey first to being a small and mighty non-profit and then to becoming registered as a charity in April 2024.
“Last year Sex Matters intervened in the For Women Scotland case. I was sitting next to Naomi in the front public bench of the Supreme Court on 16th April when the judgment was read out. A shiver went through us both as soon as Lord Hodge said he would refer to two concepts: “biological sex” and “certificated sex”. I think we both knew in that moment that reality and clarity had won.
“Sex Matters’ arguments about the meaning of sex in the Equality Act, which made their way into the judgment, had their genesis in ongoing, often late-night, discussions between Sex Matters board and team members in our WhatsApp group. Naomi wrote about the early stages of this years-long discussion in ‘Being wrong about sex’ in 2022.
“Now she is applying the principles of the newly clarified law to real-life cases of individuals discriminated against and harassed at work. This is crucial work, and in the course of this year it has become clear to us both that there was just not enough of Naomi to go around.
“Sex Matters is an extraordinarily productive organisation. The credit for that is shared by the founders, trustees and team, as well as by the supporters who have put their confidence in us. We are working in a fast-moving, hostile and complex environment, and Naomi and I both recognised that the organisation needs a chair who is less engaged in a professional capacity in the same running battles.
“I wish her all the best in her future endeavours and count her as a woman I am lucky to know.”