Thread by @Scot_Feminists

Day 2 in the #WomenWontWheesht house and we wanted to give you more information about what we will be doing to contribute to the fight for women’s rights in Scotland. But first we need to send our thanks to @shirleysascot 1/
#WomenWontWheesht

https://twitter.com/shirleysascot/status/1436556703982571522?s=20

There have been women's organisations set up to support each other from time immemorial, to support with domestic violence, childcare, sexuality, crafting and fighting the patriarchy (hell yeah!). In Scotland, there have been many groups specifically set up to address 2/

the worrying issue of the undermining or removal of women's legal rights, rights which were obtained only because of the suffragettes and suffragists that had been campaigning for equality of rights (image from 1908) 3/

One of women's super-powers is the ability to network and these Scottish groups were ninjas, at a time when many thought the the feminist struggles from the 1950s had delivered equality (oh we were so wrong). For many years in Scotland the Scottish Government has had a plan 4/

to be be most progressive, the most exceptional & this specifically involved the ability for (mainly) men to refer to themselves as women but more importantly to be counted as women on public boards, in female prisons, in female sports, in female crime statistics, etc, etc. 5/

These Scottish women's groups dared to challenge the impact of granting a male the right to call themselves female in law, the right to single-sex spaces for women's safety, privacy and dignity. In just the last year or so, Scottish women have had to fight to be able to 6/

choose the SEX of a medical examiner when a victim of a sexual assault (and by the way, the ability to choose the SEX of an examiner benefits male victims too!)
7/
thenational.scot/news/18936441.…

and @ForwomenScot have been to court (and soon to appeal) to challenge Scot Gov's legislation which allows men "to identify as" women and be counted as females when assessing the "gender balance" of public boards. 8/
crowdjustice.com/case/stop-scot…

And then we have the plans for the Scottish census (2022) to allow everyone to have a choice on how they describe their sex (beyond that defined by, say, biology), which helps no-one when planning future provisions for medical services, prisons, etc. 9/

The consequences of this madness has been highlighted by @mbmpolicy, particularly after @fairplaywomen had to take @ONS to court in England to point out they didn't have a right to allow redefinition of sex in censuses (so watch out @NatRecordsScot!) 10/
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/08/31/mbm…

In the midst of this @shirleysascot decided to try & increase the number of women able to take part in discussions about our rights, in a safe environment considering the threats women face when mentioning this issue, threats to reputation, jobs, relationships and body 11/

See the threats & abuse that @jk_rowling experienced to see how women's opinions are still unpopular amongst certain sections of society. Show me a woman on Twitter who has not faced abuse and threats, particularly when talking about sex-based rights 12/
independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…

Regional groups have been set up to allow Scottish women to be able to speak about their rights and their experiences (threats, sackings, broken friendships) and to support the existing ninja networks to present their arguments to the Scottish (and Westminster) government. 13/

Shirley has now decided to step away from setting up the groups, to take some well-earned time with her family. @Scot_feminists is a group of Scottish women that have been involved in women's support groups for years, we're in the regional groups, we see the benefits, 14/

we see the need to continue them, particularly in the year the Scot Gov wishes to push through legislation to allow males to "identify as" females, without a medical diagnosis and adopt the legal rights of females to access female spaces and activities 15/
newstatesman.com/politics/stagg…

With many regional groups already up & running for a couple of months now, with Shirley's departure we will continue to act as a contact point for Scottish women wanting to join a safe regional group, to talk about what is happening & to campaign against the proposed changes 16/

If you are female, live in Scotland and would like to be put in touch with a group of local women to understand the threat to our rights and work with others to campaign against the proposals, then please send us a DM, with your location and we'll match you up. 17/

PS Women's rights, & their removal, affect all of us in the UK & there are similar women's groups in England, Wales & N. Ireland. Sexism & misogyny sees no borders so we will continue to work with all groups to provide a UK-wide support for women's rights ❤️18/
#WomenWontWheesht