It is perfectly legal for public bodies and businesses to limit services to a single sex, the UK’s equalities watchdog declared Monday in what is seen by some as a boost for women’s rights.

There has long been uncertainty over whether services such as refuges for female rape victims are allowed to exclude trans people who were born as a man.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in the UK said that service providers wishing to limit services to a single sex are legally able to do so, provided the reasons are justified and proportionate.

The new guidance will have huge ramifications for hospitals, retailers, hospitality and sports clubs which have faced difficult issues in recent years under pressure from the trans lobby.

It makes it clear that it is legal for a gym to limit communal changing rooms to a single sex, as long as a gender neutral changing room is also provided for trans people.