Kansas Defines Woman As Someone 'Born Female': What This Means

USA's Kansas Senate passed a bill called Women's Bill of Rights on February 23 that defined what a 'woman' is. The bill stated that people born with female reproductive organs will be the only ones being considered women under legal proceedings and terminology.

The bill included girls and women in the category of females and calls women "an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova". As per the senate, the bill aims at providing a clear definition of the word woman in legal stature and is 'factual' and 'objective' as it is based on biological sex identification.

The bill, however, was passed without the support of Democrats who call it offensive to transgender as well as cisgender people. They claim that the bill is a "part of a national push to put biologically essentialist language in statute so that legislators have basis to ban trans people from public spaces".

Suggested Reading: Who Is Marvia Malik? First Transgender News Anchor In Pakistan

What Kansas' Definition Of Woman Means

It will be wrong to confide gender in a strict and narrow mould and should be a matter of choice rather than an imposition. Such bills that restrict women as 'born females' will exclude non-cisgender women and deprive them of their rights.

If the law and authorities acknowledge the rights and choices of people to determine their own identity, it comes as support for transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, and agender people. Society is always critical and discriminating towards people who don't identify themselves by the conventional rules but if they have legal support and recognition, they will be able to put forward their rights and decisions firmly and assertively.

Meanwhile, Women's Bill of Rights may possibly be vetoed by Laura Kelly, the Governor of Kansas, who herself is a Democrat and a has taken some important decisions to promote gender freedom. In 2022, she vetoed the bill that the Kansas senate passed to restrict biological males from participating in sports for biological females.