Complaints about the literacy level required to respond to the GRA

Go, write it in a martial hand; be curst and brief;
it is no matter how witty, so it be eloquent and fun
of invention: taunt him with the licence of ink:
if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be
amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of
paper, although the sheet were big enough for the
bed of Ware in England, set 'em down: go, about it.
Let there be gall enough in thy ink, though thou
write with a goose-pen, no matter: about it.

-- Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/twelfth_night.3.2.html

Thank goodness it's not just me who had difficulty filling in this form. I was really beginning to think it was my age.

But right from the start, it was quite obvious that it wasn't my views, as a woman, that they were interested in at all.

I've done it, using the WPUK guidelines. Its not brilliant but I'm happy to share my answers to give people a starting point if that would help. DM me.

The address and email for questions about the consultation is on my previous post re the Easy Read version of guidance

It would seem reasonable to send these additionally to the consultation document.

Potato25 wrote: I looked at the Easy Read version a while ago and it is absolutely appalling!

Yes! I couldn't believe anyone had signed off on that document it was so full of errors and inappropriate interpretations.

Waddle - Yes.
I did the Scottish one too. This one is even worse, even more restrictive and disingenuous in the wording (often garbled) asking for Yes/No answers to questions that just do not have a simple Yes/No answer, far from it.

I looked at the Easy Read version a while ago and it is absolutely appalling! It is just full of terrible pictures and has wrong information such as 'When we are born, our parents say that we are either male or female.'

Sounds like it's similar to the Scottish one which was entirely prefaced on self ID being a done deal & just needing to tweak the details - i'm still angry!

I assume whoever drafted it was heavily advised by members of the Stonewall diaspora.

"Human females" !!! Sorry about that! I meant, actual women and girls, as we used to call them ....

Very very pissed off about how bloody obtuse and deceitful and twisting and pushy is this consultation.

The Cabinet Office have guidelines for Government consultations

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance&ved=2ahUKEwiBjOSM5uPdAhUKI8AKHWveC5sQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw2JG8bNDUhQMAhmr0Ty1HWA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance&ved=2ahUKEwiBjOSM5uPdAhUKI8AKHWveC5sQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw2JG8bNDUhQMAhmr0Ty1HWA

This consultation seems to breach many of them. I think complaints to them copied to MPs might be useful.

I have tried to fill it in and am RAGING. It's in what I call "CouncilSpeak"; impenetrable and incoherent. And yes, biased.
It should be a fairly straightforward form, also available in hard copy with freepost to post it back.
Homeless women absolutely need to be able to fill it in, as do female prisoners, prostitutes who got little education due to leaving care early, speakers of other languages, schoolgirls, cleaners and just fucking any woman. Every woman
As it is its aimed at trans people NOT women and is really off putting and long winded.
This issue affects us all, but the MOST vulnerable women-incarcerated, or bound by religious tenets and without the language, they are the ones most grievously affected by self id.
I will finish it, and some of the women I know are doing it, but it pisses me off how the powers that be use opaque language to strangle democracy.

It's so confusing. I filled in most of it doing the yes/no questions and leaving the essay questions for later and then read FFW's advice and found some of the questions meant the exact opposite of what I had thought - arrrrggggh!

Have written and saved, so far; BUT:
filling in this fucking consultation is an exercise giving rise to despair and fear regarding the way the questions are framed - the exact wording of the questions and the official government written guidance. Fucking hell. It is so utterly biased against human females.

If they genuinely wanted to know what the public thinks this isn't how they'd be going about that.
Well exactly AAK. It seems they don't want the public's opinion.

It took me 3 days to fill the blasted thing in. I kept having to stop from sheer anger (and DD wanted to use the computer).
Some of the questions were about how transpeople would be affected. There were no questions about how women would be affected. I did point this out when I answered the question about how transpeople are affected by the change in law to self ID as regards to refuges. They did not want to know how women would be affected if self ID came in. Considering it's women who use women's refuges (as an escape from men) it seems that whomever wrote these questions do not consider women to have any right to talk about their experiences. The whole consultation stinks.

I'd completely agree. I have no issues with writing but absolutely hated filling this in.

How are homeless women supposed to get a voice in this? Or people with a different language, culture, background? Most people just don't have the time to spend worrying about the definition of "woman" because it's so obvious who a woman is. The trans activist concepts are incomprehensible even for fluent English speakers with a higher education.
It's quite elitist, actually.

Similar issues with the survey monkey questionaire created by Edward Lord for City of London Corporation:
threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3380245-The-City-of-London-consultation-didn-t-go-quite-as-they-hoped

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3320557-City-of-Londons-sneaky-Consultation-to-end-its-Single-Sex-Spaces-in-Sunday-Times

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3317922-City-of-London-Corporation-consultation-is-out-this-covers-Hampstead-Ponds

It seems that the process has been designed to exclude as many people as possible, from the wording of the survey itself to the fact that it's basically been hidden in the attic in a box marked "Nothing to see here" to the fact that it requires a decent internet connection and a lot of time to complete to the fact that it's worded as if self-ID is the assumed outcome and this is just meant to rubber stamp it.

If they genuinely wanted to know what the public thinks this isn't how they'd be going about that.

That's so true. How are homeless women supposed to get a voice in this? Or people with a different language, culture, background? Most people just don't have the time to spend worrying about the definition of "woman" because it's so obvious who a woman is. The trans activist concepts are incomprehensible even for fluent English speakers with a higher education.
It's quite elitist, actually.

If anyone is speaking to MPs etc about literacyy, do have a look at the easy read guidance.
'Easy read' has standards for language, font, images etc to make the text accessible for specific groups eg learning disabilities, low levels of literacy, young people, foreign language speakers etc

The content is also important though and there are some serious issues with the guide (which are especially concerning given the target audience)
(extract)
The Government is wanting to
improve the way that people can
lawfully change their gender in
England and Wales.

This document explains the proposals.

The Government wants to know what
you think about these proposals. (cont)

Gender
When we are born, our parents say
that we are either male or female.

This is recorded on our birth
certificate.

As we grow up we start to understand
more about gender.

Most people will be quite happy with
being the gender that was written
down when they were born.

Trans people may feel that they are a
different gender to the one that was
recorded at birth.

They may not feel like either a male or
a female.

Trans people
Being trans is not a mental illness.

Trans people face many barriers to
taking part in things.

Some young trans people take their
own life or harm themselves.

Trans people face discrimination and
bullying. (continues)

If you want more information please
contact:
Post:
Government Equalities Office
(Department for Education)
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1 P 3
Email: [email protected]

consult.education.gov.uk/government-equalities-office/reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act/user_uploads/final-gra-consultation-easy-read-lo-res_v3.pdf

I know a FPFW leafler spoke to a homeless woman who was concerned about the changes but had no access to a computer to fill in the consultation.

There is often talk about Refuges but homeless projects also have single sex spaces etc and the single women who are homeless are very vulnerable.

I know a FPFW leafler spoke to a homeless woman who was concerned about the changes but had no access to a computer to fill in the consultation.

Hello - lurker here!
I completed it last night and it took much longer than I had expected, despite using the FairPlay for women guidance.
It felt as though the government did not want the views of non-trans people and the wording of the questions was unnecessarily complicated. If I was not very motivated, or not well educated, or didn’t speak English as a first language I would probably have given up.

TBF the government recognised that this is a complex issue and also produced the simple guide to it. Unfortunately that is so simple - and patronising and clipart-tastic - that it misses the point in a number of places, and I worry about people only reading that and not understanding what the issues actually are