Thread: The ideological debate over whether ‘transwomen are women’ is never a useful starting point for policy makers when it comes to deciding what to do about their female-only spaces and services. /1
Society’s growing awareness and tolerance of an individuals right to self-express their own gender identity is welcome, but it cannot simply be extrapolated into all policy areas. /2
Not when the reason for a women-only policy is *because* of differences between the male and female sex. This is particularly true in sports policy making. /3
Fortunately, policy makers do not need to decide if they believe “transwomen are women” or not. /4
It’s perfectly possible to respect a trans persons gender identity AND to accept that transwoman were born male and that their body will have benefited from male puberty. /5
Agreeing that a person born male can self-identify as a woman does not mean you must also agree that this person should also have access to female-only spaces. /5
Unfortunately, discussions relating to women and the transgender community are so often framed by the simplistic mantra ‘transwomen are women’ delaying the final policy decision. /6
Conflating and muddling up the two very different concepts of gender identity and sex is common place. Swiftly followed by accusations of transphobia if anyone acknowledges the difference. /7
This is a dead-end that policy makers would do best to steer clear of. Despite World Rugby’s valiant efforts to uphold evidence-based policy making for transgender eligibility in the female game it has predictably hit the inevitable ‘transwomen are women’ obstacle. /8
The same obstacle that tripped up policy makers before them on women’s prison policy, women’s rape centres, women’s only changing rooms and more. /9
Rigorous and high quality scientific and legal discussions about player welfare, competitive fairness and participation levels seemingly undermined with the gotcha that ‘transwomen are women!’ /10
But the reality is different. Having a policy on transgender eligibility in female sporting competition passes no judgement on the validity or lived experience of a transgender person’s gender identity. /11
Agreeing to exclude transwomen from women’s Rugby for reasons of fairness and safety doesn’t mean you think their gender identity isn’t important. /12
It simply acknowledges something we all know. Sex matters too.
Sometimes we have no choice but to prioritise it if we want a policy to deliver on its purpose.
We have been calling for this guidance for a long time. We have been reporting rogue employers each time they misuse the law by advertising for ‘self-identifying women’ to fill women-only roles. /2
THREAD
In March the @EHRC promised to publish new guidance to stop employers mis-stating the law on female-only job adverts. We had reported numerous breaches over 2 years /1
The EHRC also said it would ‘enforce’ the law and would take ‘urgent action’ when problems are reported. We reported ‘Survivors Network’ who said ‘being female’ was a requirement but ‘this post is open to self-identifying women’ /2
Despite being reported to EHRC the advert was not corrected and remained live until applications closed. However, the wording of its latest advert for a therapist has changed in line with the law. All references to ‘self-identifying’ have gone. /3
Today we have published the first ever report on the impact of trans inclusion in sport in the UK.
It shows a widespread problem, affecting many women and girls all over the country, at all levels, from juniors to masters and at all levels of competition and participation. 1/11
Women and girls are being put at risk and their legitimate concerns disregarded.
THREAD:
Despite clear law to the contrary, female police officers are required to perform intimate searches on men - if that man says he identifies as a woman /1
The law says SAME SEX ONLY but the Statutory Code prioritises GENDER IDENTITY. This is yet another example of bad guidance corrupting policy contrary to the law /2
The Police And Criminal Evidence Act (1984) sets out how the police must lawfully search suspects.
55(7) A constable may not carry out an intimate search of a person of the opposite SEX /3
THREAD:
Yesterday we received an email from a woman who had checked the meaning of a “woman-only” fitness class at her local gym. With permission, we’re sharing the story verbatim. Well done that woman 💪… /1
“Warrington's major sports centre is run by a company called LiveWire. They are widely publicising "women only fitness classes", saying how "empowering" these will be because they are "women only"…. /2