New equalities and Women's Ministers

[Imnobody4]

According to Equalities tweets
Baroness Berridge is new Minister for Women, don't know what's happened to V Atkins.
Kemi Badenoch is Minister for Equalities which I hope is an improvement.

[stumbledin]

Thanks - am off to google as I cant say I have heard of either.

[Imnobody4]

Baroness Berridge has been appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Education as well. Is that a good sign.

[xxyzz]

"Born and educated in the county of Rutland, Lady Berridge attended Vale of Catmose College and Rutland College in Oakham. She then studied Law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and undertook barrister’s training at the Inns of Court School of Law in London. Her professional career was as a barrister before she was appointed Executive Director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship in 2006.["

[TimeLady]

Full list here

order-order.com/2020/02/14/reshuffle-live-6/

17.35:Kemi Badenoch appointed PuSS (Minister for Equalities) at DfIT
17.35:Baroness Berridge appointed PuSS (Minister for Women) at DfIT
...
17.35: Victoria Atkins remains PuSS at the Home Office

I assume PuSS is Permanent underSecretary of State.

[xxyzz]

Etc.

As a Christian, it seems she might be less expected to be sympathetic to TWAW.

Though equally, she might (or might not) be less sympathetic to abortion rights.

[Mockersisrightasusual]

...Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

'Permanent Secretaries' are civil servants.

Ministers are anything but permanent.

[stumbledin]

So they are again indicating that Minister for Women is just a second job for someone who has a more important job, eg Education. [hmmm]

Interestingly Kemi Badenoch's father is a GP and her mother is a professor of physiology so here's hoping she has a better grasp on biology than some! (Apparently as someone with tech skills she didn't think anything of hacking into Harriet Harman's web site!)

[R0wantrees]

Victoria Atkins MP may still be Parliamentary Under Secretary for Safeguarding and Vulnerability & in which case may be taking a lead on the inquiries into the consequences for children identified as transgender.
www.gov.uk/government/people/victoria-atkins

[teawamutu]

That all sounds a bit more promising than Mordaunt and Miller were.

You'd hope someone from a medical family would know the basics of biology, but then I saw a woke surgeon on Twitter arguing TWAW so you never know.

[ArranUpsideDown]

then I saw a woke surgeon on Twitter arguing TWAW so you never know.

There are many medics on Twitter with impeccable pedigrees in skepticism and denialism who argue that - much to my sorrow.

And a UK Professor of Public Health with a special interest in sexual and reproductive health who has also affected to believe that women who believe otherwise have failed to do enough research. That would be a professor who considers mimmymum to be a reliable source of information. And who has tweeted 'proof' of the continuum through some nonsense to do with categorising tables and chairs/stools. I nonetheless believe that she knows which sex needs to use which method of contraception/prophylaxis and which particular sex is the one that actually conceives and gives birth.

[stumbledin]

Just saw this in an article in the I about Kemi Badenoch:

" ... She had reflected: "What we thought was quite liberal is now seen as quite conservative and vice versa."

“When I look at a lot of the stuff that you see on social media about how – I think it’s a generational thing as well – younger people look at appropriate behaviour and what is a sexual advance, what is sexual harassment and so on, to me, it’s actually becoming a lot more puritanical than anything I ever saw in my 20s or in my teens."

She also came under fire in January 2019 after accusing Labour's Tulip Siddiq of trying to deliberately "make a point" by delaying her cesarean for a key Brexit vote.

The new equalities minister abstained on the extension of same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland in July 2019.

She joins the Government Equalities Office (GEO) just weeks after it put out a call for sexual harassment victims to share their stories and pledged to "strengthen protections for employees across the UK from sexual harassment".

... Ms Badenoch also challenged the cultural reassessment of the TV show Friends over jokes that are now seen as homophobic and transphobic.

... Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss, who continues to hold the Cabinet-level role of Minister for Women and Equalities, previously suggested renaming the department the "Ministry of Freedom" to move away from “identity politics". "

inews.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-new-equalities-minister-criticised-puritanical-millennials-sexual-harassment-1742011

So nothing has really change as basically we are still waiting for Liz Truss???

[Imnobody4]

Strange article in inews. She's not the Women's Minister but Equalities so I find her comments on Friends and abstention on gay marriage in N.Ireland significant (not that I agree with the latter). Baroness Williams her predessesser was very gung ho about trans issues.

[langclegflavoredbananamush]

I came across this on Twitter, it seems Baroness Berridge is willing to at least say that “male-bodied women” ( that phrase makes my brain hurt) should be banned from women’s toilets. The pic is from the tweet, and is taken from the Sunday Mail of the 29th. Please please please let the tide be properly turning...

mobile.twitter.com/AnnMSinnott/status/1244242384684232704

[R0wantrees]

it seems Baroness Berridge is willing to at least say that “male-bodied women” ( that phrase makes my brain hurt) should be banned from women’s toilets.

My head hurts also.

Is it euphemistic & referring to males with intact genitalia or is it a clunky reference to any male person (physically so disregarding the possibility of GRC)?

[R0wantrees]

link to the Mail on Sunday article:
'Ban male-bod­ied trans women from ladies’ toi­lets, says Equal­ity Minister
By Glen Owen PO­LIT­I­CAL EDITOR 29 Mar 2020

TRANS­GEN­DER women who have male bod­ies should be barred from fe­male toi­lets and chang­ing rooms, a new Equal­i­ties Of­fice Min­is­ter has in­sisted.

In the lat­est salvo of a Govern­ment war to pro­tect sin­gle-sex spa­ces, Women’s Min­is­ter Baroness Berridge de­clared the law is clear that such places should be for bi­o­log­i­cal women only.

She said: ‘Trans­gen­der peo­ple can be ex­cluded from sin­gle­sex fa­cil­i­ties if ser­vice providers have a legitimate rea­son for do­ing so and if ex­clu­sion is the least dis­crim­i­na­tory way to pro­ceed.’

Rules over trans women’s ac­cess to ‘women-only’ ser­vices are the sub­ject of fierce pub­lic ar­gu­ment, with op­po­nents in­sist­ing that those who iden­tify as fe­male but are anatom­i­cally male should be ex­cluded.

A sim­i­lar de­bate has been tak­ing place within Govern­ment, with fe­male Min­is­ters clash­ing with se­nior male aides in Down­ing Street to de­mand a tougher line. At the heart of the is­sue is the Equal­ity Act, which states that or­gan­i­sa­tions can­not dis­crim­i­nate on the ba­sis of gen­der re­as­sign­ment. How­ever, the Act also con­tains mea­sures al­low­ing for fe­male-only ser­vices.

Baroness Ber­ridge, who was ap­pointed Min­is­ter for Women in the Fe­bru­ary reshuf­fle, works with Liz Truss, the Equal­i­ties Sec­re­tary, who is push­ing No 10 to take a stronger stance on pro­tect­ing women’s right.

In­sid­ers say Ms Truss wants the Govern­ment to for­mally aban­don pro­pos­als to let peo­ple ‘self-iden­tify’ their gen­der and align it­self with cam­paign­ers who be­lieve that trans equal­ity laws threaten female- only spa­ces. But she has so far been over­ruled by Boris John­son’s top aide Do­minic Cum­mings who does not be­lieves the de­bate is a pri­or­ity for most vot­ers.

Trans ac­tivists such as Stonewall ar­gue that the Equal­ity Act means that trans women can­not be stopped from us­ing fe­male fa­cil­i­ties.

A source said: ‘Liz is one of sev­eral Min­is­ters who want to be much tougher on this, but Down­ing Street just wants the whole sub­ject to go away.’

In her state­ment to the House of Lords, Baroness Ber­ridge, a for­mer lawyer and di­rec­tor of the Con­ser­va­tive Chris­tian Fel­low­ship, said: ‘We must take the right steps to pro­tect safe sin­gle-sex spa­ces for women and girls; their ac­cess should not be jeop­ar­dised

‘We are con­sid­er­ing care­fully our next steps.’

www.pressreader.com/uk/the-mail-on-sunday/20200329/282355451841159

text from: www.reddit.com/r/GenderCritical/comments/fraxiq/mail_on_sunday_ban_malebodied_trans_women_from/

Don't all trans women being male have male bodies & aren't they all 'anatomically male'?

[Datun]

Don't all trans women being male have male bodies & aren't they all 'anatomically male'?

They all have male bodies. A man who surgically feminises his face, or inverts his penis, is not a woman.

Despite it not being an unpopular stance, I can't imagine how people believe they would implement any policy that allowed men who have inverted their penises access, but not those who don't.

It's far more unworkable, discriminatory and prejudicial than sex segregation according to sex.

[Strangerthantruth]

Yes of course they are all male bodied and anatomically male irrespective of any body modifications they've purchased or obtained via the NHS.

I think the Baroness and the writer are simply spelling this one out for clarity. It does make a change.

[R0wantrees]

They all have male bodies. A man who surgically feminises his face, or inverts his penis, is not a woman.

Exactly.
Just as any males whose bodies are altered by accidents, cancer treatments or other elective facial plastic sugeries continue to have male bodies.

[Strangerthantruth]

A sim­i­lar de­bate has been tak­ing place within Govern­ment, with fe­male Min­is­ters clash­ing with se­nior male aides in Down­ing Street to de­mand a tougher line.


That's an interesting quote. Who are these senior male aids who are clashing with female ministers on this? Cummings?

[R0wantrees]

I think the Baroness and the writer are simply spelling this one out for clarity. It does make a change.

Im not sure.
Some people use the term 'male-bodied' to refer to those males who identify as women but have not had genital surgery.

There is a significant push from many directions to assign female spaces to females & those males who have had particular sugeries.

Language continues to obfuscate.

[R0wantrees]

That's an interesting quote. Who are these senior male aids who are clashing with female ministers on this?

Did it ever emerge which male cabinet member threatened David Davies MP with police action when he continued to host women's groups?

[Strangerthantruth]

Women’s Min­is­ter Baroness Berridge de­clared the law is clear that such places should be for bi­o­log­i­cal women only.

I can't see any obfuscation there Rowan trees, can you?

[R0wantrees]

It may be that the complaints to IPSO improve clarity in reporting & subsequent discussion.

fairplayforwomen.com/ipso/

womansplaceuk.org/2020/03/29/wpuk-response-to-the-communications-and-digital-committee-enquiry-the-future-of-journalism/

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3863216-FairPlayForWomen-fight-inaccurate-press-reporting

[Al1Langdownthecleghole]

KB is also currently on Maternity Leave. She happens to be my MP, so when she is back at work/we are allowed out again and I'm on top of my own real-life shit, I have promised myself that I will go along to one of her surgeries for a chat.

My impression is that she is right-wing and hawkish and if this bears out, she wouldn't be my first choice of minister. On the other hand, I suspect that she knows what a woman is.

[skql]

in the past i never thought i be begging for woman's toilet in 2020.