Thread by @caithness_pf

@AngelaHaggerty said on @ScotlandTonight that women’s orgs “have been consulting”, and “services..are saying this is not a problem” to the @WG_Scotland survey that found increases in women self-excluding from women-only services because of intact males who self-id as women.

So I had a search..
First survey form 2010 by the now disbanded Women’s National Commission which included 650 UK women’s sector orgs.
web.archive.org/web/2011081809…
It found that 99% (of the 297 women-only service users and providers asked) value women-only services:

The main points raised are:

And it is important that even mixed-sex organisations should offer women-only services at the point of delivery because “it is the service user experience..that matters”

And all the many reasons women-only service providers felt it was important. What’s changed @rapecrisisscot @scotwomensaid? This was only 8 years ago.

Could it be something to do with funding? “Pressure on women’s organisations to include men so that they are ‘more representative of society’, more relevant’ and serve the ‘wider community’.”

Maybe, since a Parliamentary Question on 05/12/18 by Kezia Dugdale confirmed that in order to receive funding these women’s organisations are compelled to have a trans inclusive policy.

The only other survey I could find was 2 years later by EHRC on 25 women-only service providers and users:
equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/…
Very similar findings: 95% of users said the women-only aspect of the service was important.

Importantly, a significant number of women would self-exclude from the service if it was not women-only.

The confusion over the Equality Act and funding pressures to work with all those in need, including men is nothing new.

Despite ALL service providers believing a better service is provided by being women-only.

@rapecrisisscot @scotwomensaid what has changed in the last six years to make you forget who your core service users are and what their needs are?

Women are telling you in these surveys, and again in the latest survey from @WG_Scotland, that women-only services are vitally important to us. I can find no evidence that it’s suddenly changed.

We understand the funding pressures and we see the fettering by @ScotGov preventing you exercising the single-sex exceptions under the Equality Act - but now is the time to speak out.