Our trust has been stonewalled. Is there any recourse or do I keep quiet to keep my job?
Here’s part of the feedback from last year’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. I looked it up having flicked through this years survey and deciding that if they aren’t collecting useful data (i.e. on sex too) then I won’t be taking part. “Regarding your parental policies, the policy is inclusive of same sex partners, but more needs to be done for the policy to be trans inclusive. We recommend that you remove the terms "mother" and "father" from the body of your policies, in order to ensure that everyone within your organisation is covered by your policies. Your definition of who the policy applies to can still include the term "mother" and refer to any relevant government legislation, but we’d recommend using gender neutral language in the body of the policy. You may find the following terms useful: "pregnant employee"; "birth parent" and then "second parent"; "parent who has given birth" or "new mothers and other pregnant employees". Please see Stonewall’s inclusive policy toolkit which has further guidance on this.”
Looked at our “maternity policy” which is now called the “parents policy”. It’s all birthing person, person giving birth, pregnant person, birth parent or you… No mention of mothers- unless you’re a surrogate mother which I assume they forgot to remove the word “mother”. You can access maternity support leave for the second parent though as long as you’re the “baby’s biological father”. Then I noticed the menopause policy. It’s had the same treatment. Apparently “Most people will experience menopausal symptoms” and there’s specific information on how menopause can affect Trans and NB people…
I’m fed up of it. This isn’t inclusive language if it erases the word women. By removing “Women” from a policy about menopause it implies that I should be worried about 3 in 4 employees having menopause symptoms and 1 in 4 experiencing severe symptoms. We employ men and women- with a range of gender identities. I’m pretty sure though that those biological men who identify as men will not be experiencing menopause or any of its symptoms.
Is there a point in me raising this? Our department is very young and errs towards the tra side, a colleague has already been called a terf (nothing done about it- she was told to educate herself…) in the past and I feel that they’re all pretty much captured under the ‘lets be kind’ club. .
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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions
Stonewall and work policies
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Teaandcakeordeath83 · 14/10/2021 17:57
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