The Times: Feminists celebrate U-turn on self-identification in Scotland as women’s prisons review trans policy

They welcome. NON TRANS WOMEN

is that just an ordinary woman then or what is that ?

👆they welcome anyone who thinks they are a woman.

Jeez. Anyone to their women only events anyone to discuss women’s inequality

FAQs
Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about Engender.

Why is individual membership only open to women?

Engender thinks that people of all genders are disadvantaged by sexism, but that women’s experience of sexism is distinct. We believe that it is valuable to provide space for women to come together to discuss their inequality, and to work creatively to challenge that inequality. Trans women are very welcome to become members of Engender and attend our women-only events. We support self-ID, and therefore welcome trans women, non-trans women, and those who identify as women.

Is Engender inclusive of all women?

We try to do all we can to ensure we are welcoming to all women who want to be involved in Engender. This includes black, minority and ethnic women, lesbian, bisexual and trans women, disabled women, refugee and asylum seeking women, women of all ages, carers, poorer women, and women of all faiths and none. We do this in a range of ways including holding events around the country, hosting webinars and online consultations, offering free membership to any woman, providing transport and childcare costs for events, and actively reaching out to groups who are often under-represented in the feminist movement.

We know there is always more that we can be doing to allow all women to be involved, and we are always happy to hear feedback on what we could be doing better, so please contact us on [email protected] if you have any comments or suggestions.

Who can come to your events?

Many of Engender’s events are open to the public, and everyone is welcome to attend, including men and non-binary people. We also hold women-only events, focus groups and consultations, as well as events which are only open to our members. Members often receive priority bookings for our events.

Most of our events are free of charge, and we can provide transport and caring costs.

Is Engender intersectional?

Engender believes feminism must be intersectional, and we strive to conduct all of our policy work using an intersectional lens. We work with a range of organisations to help us do this, and encourage partner organisations to recognise that all women’s lived experiences are different.

If you have any ideas or comments about how to ensure our work stays intersectional, or want to chat about how to make your own work more inclusive of all women, we’d love to hear from you! Contact Alys to share your views.

Excellent article. Fills me with hope that this madness can be stopped.

Love the comments. Especially this one. I posted once before about the lovely German changing rooms at swimming pools, and here it is confirmed:

I was recently in a female only swimming pool changing room in Germany. Everyone was naked: the elderly, the young and beautiful, the fit, the fat and the pregnant. A small girl was happily showering, surrounded by a healthy display of the full range of unashamed female body types. As body dysmorphia problems such as anorexia are at epidemic levels, this type of in-gender education is vital. A penis would not have been a welcome addition regardless of the gender self-Identification of its owner.

I now go to a swimming pool regularly near where I live in Ireland and the women's changing room is an open one, with women coyly changing near their lockers. The showers are separate cubicles. I guess women are more shy about their bodies here, even among themselves. How much more so, should men be allowed in!

Engender and the other women's organisations who support self-ID did this podcast on GRA reform a year ago almost to the day. I remember listening at the time, and finding it to be utterly condescending. Dismissing the concerns of ordinary women, who none of them have consulted.

Already, one year on, it's not ageing well:

scottishequalitiesorganisations.blogspot.com/2019/05/transcript-of-on-engender-podcast-on.html

*should

Shouldn’t have added- well done to all you brillaint, strong women in Scotland who have brought this u turn about.

You really have made a difference to the lives of millions of women and girls.

I know I’m repeating others bit this man is a LIAR and a gaslighter.

We see you James!

James Morton, of the Scottish Trans Alliance, said: “We appreciate that there are genuinely held concerns about gender recognition reform and we have always been happy to engage in discussion to resolve those concerns. But there is also a concerted campaign trying to roll back the existing legal rights of trans people

This is the staff team at Engender. There are about six of them. Hard to gauge from the cartoons (nice to spend taxpayers' cash on a cartoonist eh?) but they all appear to be white, middle-class, quite young??

www.engender.org.uk/content/staff/

I follow the director of Engender on Twitter and was waiting for her to tweet about the attack on Julie Bindel, given it took place in the same city where Engender is based. I waited and waited and eventually this was her first tweet of the day the morning after the attack:

twitter.com/EmmaRitch/status/1136528482769473537

finally some good news. I think it came as a big surprise for a lot of men, that they cannot silence women to the same extent anymore.

Not read through the thread (sorry)

But I'm not sure this is a good thing, they know noone will voted for then when the publish, so they are delaying.

Think about it, what out come will stop people voting for them.

Effectively ScotGov is paying orgs to lobby ScotGov (and paying some orgs multiple times under multiple names)

This is absolutely outrageous. Institution and government capture at the highest levels. An inquiry should take place to see exactly how this corrupt state of affairs came to exist.

A comment under the article:

Too much time, creative effort and attention is going into moulding society, "forcing" issues like you would force rhubarb. A tremendous exercise in elevating the pursuit of improving minority, sectional, interests while neglecting the collective interest.

I love the way the Scots have a good level of class consciousness and can immediately point to the top-down, bourgeois nature of extremist transactivism.

Well I didn't think anything this weekend could make me laugh harder than that Labour LGBT thread but James Morton claiming we have always been happy to engage in discussion runs it a close second.

"The disclosure will dismay equality campaigners..."

Equality my arse. So-called tw rights and self-id are diametrically opposite women's rights. They are opposed to and incompatible with our rights.

Is is the case that “Engender” is not representing the interests of women and girls...am I reading this correctly? They need scrutiny surely. Who are the players?

Ohmigod if Nicola Sturgeon doesn't squirm when she reads this paragraph then she has a hide like a rhinoceros

The group Engender, which calls itself “Scotland’s feminist policy and advocacy organisation”, said in a response to the consultation with some other women’s groups that it had “very few specific comments to make” and “instead of formulating our own response to the detail of the proposals, we would commend for consideration Scottish Trans Alliance’s submission”. Engender’s income last year was £335,000, of which £301,000 came from the Scottish government.

Hats off the writer of the article

OOPS, I bolded the wrong bit in the second paragraph, I meant to bold the bit about funding from the government. When I read that paragraph initially I thought it was the feminist groups.

More coffee required I think

Haven't read the whole way through the article, but I'm reacting to some of the language used. For an article that feels sympathetic to the female POV some of the phrasing seems odd.

"Scots ministers had said they believed the current law, which demands that applicants seek a doctor’s diagnosis and live in their new gender role for two years, to be “intrusive and onerous”."

Should that not be requires ?

"New grassroots feminist groups, organised online, sprang up to fight the plans after they were backed by Scotland’s main women’s organisation, which is 90% funded by the Scottish government."

Not quite sure what that paragraph means. Who is the 'they' referred to? The grassroots feminist groups? The main women's organisation? I suspect I know the answer, but I had to puzzle at it a bit, as I have some comprehension difficulties. I can't be the only one who skim-reads.

Great news and well done to those amazing women who stuck their necks out and endured horrendous verbal abuse in doing so to protect the rights of women and girls when those whose job it is have failed so spectacularly.

Gregor Murray who led the campaign against Joan McAlpine is still suspended I believe.

As an aside, I do wonder why Bex Stinson has left the Stonewall gravy train. It's very curious

Does Stinson really not realise how sinister this sounds?

Maybe why Stinson is no longer Head of Trans Inclusion.

Bex Stinson, who was then head of trans inclusion at the LGBT lobbyist Stonewall, said last year that the Scottish debate had been better than England’s because it “didn’t take place on the front page of newspapers and across Twitter . . . [it was] being had in rooms with people who were decision makers”.

Does Stinson really not realise how sinister this sounds?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Bloody hell, that Twitter link.

What a fucking scam this all is.

That’s a really good article. I like that they state the funding sources these are publicly funded groups that are campaigning to remove women’s rights.