Defining sex in Wales
Cathy Larkman
What is a woman? This apparently simple question causes even the most seasoned politicians to visibly panic and flounder.
From the Prime Minister attempting to calculate the percentage of women who have a penis to our own First Minister Eluned Morgan angrily accusing Darren Millar MS of engaging in a ‘culture war’ during FMQs earlier this year.
Notably, she didn’t actually answer the question herself.
Senedd Members, however, will soon be able to get essential and long overdue clarity on this question, thanks to an event jointly organised by grassroots feminist groups Wales Women’s Rights Network and Merched Cymru.
Sponsored by Natasha Asghar MS, the event on October 15 brings together an expert panel comprising some of the key players in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, which resulted in the Supreme Court ruling unanimously that ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.
Susan Smith, Co-director of For Women Scotland, Kate Barker, CEO of LGB Alliance, one of the three groups that intervened on behalf of lesbians, and specialist discrimination and employment barrister Naomi Cunningham will look at the events leading up to the case, and what the judgment means for Welsh Government and other public bodies in Wales.
Sharron Davies
Members of the public will also have the opportunity to hear from the panel at an evening event chaired by Olympic medallist and campaigner for fairness in women’s sports Sharron Davies, at the New Plaza Port Talbot. Tickets are available here: Defining Sex – What the Supreme Court ruling means for women’s rights in Wales.
The landmark Supreme Court ruling followed years of hard work and campaigning by grassroots feminists, culminating in the legal action brought by For Women Scotland, and the ramifications for women’s spaces and services are significant.
Not only do the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ carry their ordinary biological meaning, but this has always been the case. This means that any interpretation of ‘woman’ that includes men who identify as women – even if they have a gender recognition certificate – are invalid and always have been. Any organisation that has provided single sex services on this basis has therefore been acting unlawfully.
The ruling left public bodies reeling. The First Minister was quick to confirm that “the Welsh Government respects the decision of the Supreme Court. We will take the time to consider the judgment carefully”. Despite this, more than five months later, the Welsh Government has yet to make a single change to any of its policies.
Both events represent an important opportunity to not only understand the appalling consequences that years of failures in leadership and deliberate misinterpretation of the law have had on the human rights of women and girls, but to make sure that this overreach and wilful misinterpretation is now put right without further delay”.
Damning indictment
Women’s campaigners have been proved right. It is a damning indictment that there were so many in authority who were prepared to support female prisoners being incarcerated with violent males, vulnerable women being placed in mixed sex hospital wards, men participating in women’s and girls’ sport and sharing their changing rooms, to cite just a few examples”.
Women are 51% of the electorate. There really are no more excuses now. The law is crystal clear.
We hope that our private event at the Senedd brushes away all the excuses and ensures action instead. MSs who take the opportunity to attend, or send a representative are making a statement that they at least are genuinely committed to women’s rights”.
Ali Morris of Merched Cymru said: “Tackling discrimination and violence against women and girls depends on us being able to define what a woman is. For too long, women have faced intimidation, slander and threats to their personal safety and careers simply for stating what the Supreme Court has set out so unequivocally – that sex means biological sex.
“Generations of women fought for sex-based rights and protections to enable us to play a full part in society, yet we saw those rights rapidly eroded by stealth by a regressive movement that prioritised some people’s feelings over the material reality of sex. We are saying ‘no more’. Our government and public bodies have to step up and make sure that their duties towards women and girls are fully compliant with the law as confirmed by the Supreme Court.”
Cathy Larkman is Director and Policing Lead of the Women’s Rights Network
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The mentality that believes reality is defined by opinions is certifiably insane.
When phoning The Welsh NHS 111 call service the question to caller was ” What sex was your wife assigned at birth”? Who exactly is responsible for this action?
Are these comments being censored? I got an email saying my comment was “approved” but it doesn’t appear here. What’s going on?
I’ve been thinking for a while that MSs need some training in the obvious and then it appears 😊
I’m very glad to see this event take place and have got my ticket. Well done WRN Wales and Merched Cymru!
I’m astounded that things ever got this far – women’s rights have been ridden roughshod over and it’s taken a Supreme Court case to assert the law. Groups and organisations that misrepresented the law and disregarded women’s rights in the process really have a lot to answer for.
Now politicians and public organisations need to step up and comply with the law, not the crazy demands of activists.
Well done for holding Welsh Government to account over their failure to uphold the law and protect the rights of women and girls.
It’s worth noting that the clarification of the law also protects the rights of gay men and lesbians to categorise themselves and their associations – WG claims these groups are a priority yet ignores this fundamental fact.
The event lineup sounds fabulous – looking forward to it.
I sincerely hope WelshGovt step up and listen. No excuses.
Really great to see a positive article by a woman about the Supreme Court Judgment. The meeting sounds fantastic. Let’s hope the Law is implemented soon, April 16 was a long time ago. Women matter, sex matters it’s about time our politicians defended women.
Its good to see women’s voices being heard and women’s rights being spoken about publically.
For too long they have been silenced.
Female single sex spaces are there for a reason.
Self ID in single sex spaces never was legally endorsed and it doesn’t work. It undermines women’s right to dignity and puts them at risk.
The law hasn’t changed. It was clarified.
Women have the right to meet and discuss the issues that affect them.
I fully support this event taking place.
I honestly thought we had moved on in the last forty year. I can only express my disappointment that my fellow Welsh citizens seem to be bathing in bigotry on such a scale. Trans people (male and female) make up such a tiny portion of society that you might never actually meet one.
If everything the author wishes to be ‘rectified’ relating to this issue was achieved the reality would still be that biological women would still face the same levels of inequality, violence from biological men, discrimination, objectification, lower pay and work opportunities and the list goes on. And that situation would have nothing to do with whatever rights or lack of rights trans people have or don’t have. Maybe some see the issue as having to be dealt with as an essential stepping stone to better conditions for biological women in general. If so I’d like to see their logic for… Read more »
You’re right women should be spending their time fighting all of the things you mention, as they have being doing for centuries, right up until their cause was hijacked by an counterfactual ideolog that thinks it can create reality from lies and fantasy’s. I suppose all those concerns will just disappear with the existence of women, after all if there’s no recognition of what a women is then they can’t be experiencing any of the things you’ve stated.
The adjective biological is redundant in this context.
Who you’re referring to as “non biological women”, are men. But you know this. It certainly isn’t a sideshow in terms of women’s refuges, rape crisis centres, Ladies toilets, leisure centre changing facilities etc – the territory marking of dangerous male behaviour impacts detrimentally on women repeatedly every day.
A ‘non biological woman’ is NOT a woman.
That was made crystal clear by the Supreme Court.
The only people that are women are adult human females & that is a biological reality.
Non -,biological women – that would be men then?
There are no non biological women, there are only women, and it’s a an attack on the ongoing struggle by women for equality.
My response, which addressed the points in your comment has disappeared.
If you and others with similar views on this issue wish to engage in discussion I’ll make the effort and repeat it.
Very few people would consider legitimate criticism of a group calling themselves Women of Newport for including a man in it’s list of ’21 remarkable women’, to be either vicious or bullying.
The author is a highly respected women’s rights campaigner who quite frankly, has the patience of a saint.
It’s a damning state of affairs when energy, money, and great minds have to be spent on trying to re-establish basic, core, facts. There are men, there are women. They are equal but not the same. No body can change sex and gender does not exist. How have got to the point where people’s delusions and mental illnesses are driving factors to changing policy? Shame on everyone who has stood by and let this happen and congratulations to all the women and men who have fought, and continue to fight, against it.
Women should be grateful for the women like Cathy who are refusing to be bullied and belittled by men and ideologically captured politicians. I’m sick of seeing men included in women’s sports, on women’s shortlists, in articles celebrating women, women’s prisons and shouting about and accessing women’s spaces. It’s time to hold politicians to account for pandering to entitled men and their failure to safeguard women and vulnerable children.
Note how not one of us cares about Trans-men in mens activities.