Women's Views on News |
| Transgender equality: safeguards needed Posted: 29 Nov 2016 02:03 PM PST
Hooray, you might say. At long last! But there is a problem. The Women and Equalities Committee‘s transgender equality inquiry, headed by Maria Miller, produced a report in January this year that has called for the removal of qualifying requirements for gender change, so that anyone could easily become legally a member of the opposite sex without the need for any form of social or medical transition. So there is a problem. If the Equality Committee's recommendations go forward as planned, the elimination of sex as a protected class will be replaced by an individual's declaration of their subjective and internal gender-based "feelings". This would give men who proclaim such gender feelings the legal right to expose themselves in women's locker rooms and other single-sex facilities where public nudity occurs and where women and girls are particularly vulnerable. Convicted male prisoners who proclaim gender feelings will be housed in cells with confined female prisoners who will have no legal grounds to object. Men will have the right to compete in women's sports, apply for women's scholarships, and the right to serve as female proxies by occupying affirmative action slots which formerly served to address sex inequality in women's representation in public life. Single-sex rape crisis services, women's refuges, lesbian public events, will become illegal on the grounds they discriminate against the gender feelings of men. The policy recommendations made by the Committee regarding transgender rights thus have a potentially adverse effect on women in a number of ways: The threat to current sex-based rights, which keep males and females segregated in public places where women and girls might be physically vulnerable. These include toilets, changing rooms, rape crisis centres, refuges, hospital wards and prisons; The inclusion of male-bodied, male-socialised people, into areas of success and achievement where women currently have their own space in order to make competition fair or to level the playing field. These include sports, prizes and awards, shortlists and quotas; The negative affect on the lesbian community of the pressure on young women to identify as trans rather than as lesbian. There is also pressure to accept male-bodied self-identified 'lesbians' as sexual partners; The pressure on parents to accept a trans diagnosis for a gender non-conforming child, based on gender stereotypes of clothing and toy preferences; or in the case of teenagers, to give in to the social media contagion to which they might be susceptible; The skewing of national statistics regarding crime, due to the higher rate of offending by male transitioners as opposed to women, with possible knock-on effects on funding for women's services; The effect on the 'trans widows' of men (and it mostly is men) who transition in middle age. There is nowhere for these women to turn: all the help and support is directed towards the 'trans' person; and The changing of language pertinent to women and girls in order to make it more trans-inclusive, thereby making 'women's issues' impossible to talk about. This includes the use of such terms as 'pregnant people' by health providers. So women now find ourselves having to write to our MPs and ask for these issues to be thought through and to ensure these proposals are changed, solutions found, that mean all parties are safe. 'Third spaces' for example. To ask our MPs to vote against this, as it stands. And asking everyone worried about the implications of this move to contact their MP. Fair Play for Women has put together this draft letter, but it should be personalised for your MP. Maybe you can emphasise the point you feel most strongly about. A lesbian faced with a person with a penis wanting sex with her, for example. Or if you are the mother or sister of a woman or girl who has been raped and will be afraid going to swimming-bath changing rooms. Dear [MP] … On Thursday 1st December MPs will take part in a debate in the House of Commons Chamber on a motion on transgender equality. While I welcome a discussion on the challenges faced by transgender people in today's society, I am concerned that the interests of women and girls are not being represented in this ongoing debate and I would like you, as my MP to stand up for your female constituents. In January the Women and Equalities Committee produced a report calling for a self-declaration system for legally changing ones gender. Currently if a person wishes to change their legal gender they must be over 18, be diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have been living in their desired gender role for at least two years, and intend to do so for the rest of their life. The Committee's report called for the removal of all three of these criteria, so that anyone could easily become legally a member of the opposite sex, without the need for any form of social or medical transition. Effectively, any man could claim transgender status to gain access to sex-specific spaces and services whether he genuinely thinks of himself as a woman or not and no matter how he dresses, and questioning his motives would be classed as a hate crime under the Equalities Act 2010. In most areas of life, I support transgender people to live as they wish. However, in certain situations we distinguish between biological men and biological women for reasons of safety, dignity, privacy and fairness. Often this debate is characterised as being about public toilets, but other examples include prisons, communal changing facilities, intimate care of the disabled and the elderly, or hospital wards and competitive sport. Maria Miller has consistently denied any clash of rights here, but there are already numerous examples of violent males being housed in female prisons (eg Lauren Jeska), males competing against females in sport (eg Fallon Fox) and men taking accolades from women (eg Chloe Allen). I am also concerned about the effect this push towards the concept of 'gender identity' will have on children. There has been a huge increase in children seeking treatment for gender dysphoria, often based simply on a preference for toys and clothes usually associated with members of the opposite sex. Studies show, if left to grow up without medical intervention, 80 per cent of gender-questioning children grow into healthy adults content in their bodies. If children are started on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, the desistance rate is close to zero, leading to a lifetime of medication and surgery. I would strongly argue for initiatives within education, social services, health and child development to focus on rejecting harmful gendered norms and stereotypes, and supporting children to understand that a full and diverse range of attributes, interests and behaviours is available to both girls and boys. I hope you understand that women are not – as Maria Miller has implied – being transphobic when they raise concerns about these changes, but have real and valid concerns. I would urge you to consider the wider implications of these changes, and look for an alternative solution that meets the needs of the transgender community without having such a massive impact on the safety and well-being of women. We need safeguards. Yours etc. To find your MP’s contact details, click here.  |
| Posted: 29 Nov 2016 11:25 AM PST
Join the demonstration on 3 December calling for Yarl’s Wood – and all detention centres – to be shut down. In Yarl's Wood more than 400 women are indefinitely detained, most of whom have experienced rape, domestic violence, torture, forced marriage, sexual abuse, FGM, or persecution due to sexuality. Or all of those. Many of them have long and deep connections to the UK, have been here most of their lives, have all their family and friends here. Many have children; some are pregnant, elderly, disabled, sick and have mental health difficulties. The cruelty of Yarl's Wood has been exposed time after time in undercover investigations, government reports, inspectorate reports, and inquiry findings for sexual abuse/harassment by guards towards the women. In April 2015 an unannounced inspection found that Yarl's Wood was "rightly a place of national concern". In March 2015 undercover footage by Channel 4 News showed the brutal, racist attitude of the guards. March 2015 also saw the Parliamentary Inquiry into Immigration Detention publish its report that called for a 28-day time limit and judicial oversight of the use of immigration detention. And the Shaw report, published in January 2016, made 60 recommendations at the heart of which was the view that use of detention should be drastically reduced. It exposed the extreme vulnerability of many of those detained including victims of sexual assault and gendered violence, pregnant women, victims of torture, the elderly, disabled and those with mental health difficulties. Movement for Justice have held 9 demonstrations at the notorious Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre. With every demonstration there is more vibrancy, more anger, more determination – with ex detainees, asylum seekers, feminist and anti-racist activists from around the country demonstrating right at the fences of Yarl's Wood. The women behind the fences join the demonstrations from their rooms with handmade banners, signs, ribbons of toilet paper, their arms and legs – defying guards' threats to express their rage and determination for freedom. We come together and everyone leaves feeling stronger and more determined. The Surround Yarl's Wood demonstrations are palpable, direct and visibly impactful acts of solidarity, and they give the women inside the strength to continue their daily resistance to racism, sexual abuse, deportations, and inadequate mental and physical healthcare. They have also inspired a whole generation of new young activists across the country to take up the fight against detention and the brutalities and racism of the immigration system and borders. These demonstrations keep Yarl's Wood on the national agenda, and they make it clear that there is only one solution – SHUT IT DOWN! The next demonstration is on 3 December. Come too. There are coaches going, and a coach will fetch people from Bedford railway station at 12.15. And if you can't come, you can still help. We need 250 people to sign up #ShutDownYarlsWood Thunderclap: it will ensure that #YarlsWood is trending on Saturday and can't be ignored! #ENDdetention #SetHerFree To join in, all you need to do is follow this link and click ‘support with – Twitter, Facebook or/and Tumblr’ you then log in and give permission to Thunderclap to post on your behalf. Doing that means that at 1.30pm on Saturday everyone who signed up will have an automatic Tweet/post go out about #YarlsWood and we get it trending! And money is always helpful: click here to see about that…  |
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