Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Labour don't think sex is a protected characteristic in the EA.

63 replies

weaverbirds · 02/10/2020 11:16

Latest 'why equality matters' statement from the LP. No mention of sex as a protected category.
Is this ignorance? Seems unlikely since it's Marsha de Cordova. So it must be gaslighting. I'm beyond angry.

labour.org.uk/latest/what-is-the-equality-act-of-2010-and-why-does-it-matter/?fbclid=IwAR2LLcUNbSgFcMboVoG7UjNQE6XCpWf9VYpNf95-j8-7j4EO0nsu4aaNl60

OP posts:
BatShite · 02/10/2020 12:16

What the actual fuck are they playing at..they cannot just remove a protected characteristic because they don't think it should be there..that kind of undermines the whole protected characteristic thing to begin with surely..

Shedbuilder · 02/10/2020 12:13

Weaverbirds, did it come to you direct from Labour HQ, as it were? On her Twitter account it seems that the statement comes from MDC's blog.

Marsha de Cordova is Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities. It may just be her blog but it's shocking that someone in her position could omit the protected characteristic that covers 51% of the population — a population for which she holds the remit.

Original poster
weaverbirds · 02/10/2020 11:54

Good to hear Tyro. I'm astonished by their arrogance - feels like a deliberate provocation - so it's good to know that there's a push back.

No idea whether this is 'official' doctrine or not Shed. Either way it's clear that Starmer is happy to let the misogyny continue.

OP posts:
DickKerrLadies · 02/10/2020 11:53

@InspiralCoalescenceRingdown

It also misses marriage and civil partnership.

Pretty incompetent to make a an article explaining the Equality Act and then miss off two of the protected characteristics.

Shows how useless the Labour Party have become, if they can't even properly explain their own Act of Parliament.

This.

The Labour Party - for the men, not for you.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others, eh?

Signed, yet another politically homeless woman.

showmethegin · 02/10/2020 11:49

I've just written to my MP as follows;

Dear ........

As a member of the party I would like to register my concern at a press release by the Labour Party on their website. It is reasserting the importance of the equality act introduced in 2010.

https://labour.org.uk/latest/what-is-the-equality-act-of-2010-and-why-does-it-matter/?fbclid=IwAR2LLcUNbSgFcMboVoG7UjNQE6XCpWf9VYpNf95-j8-7j4EO0nsu4aaNl600_

I am a vocal supporter of the act however I find it incredibly concerning that Sex seems to have been left out of this release? Sex is a protected characteristic for reason and women still face sex discrimination every day; this feels like erasure.

Do you agree with the wording of this press release? I am not the only person among my peers that is rightly concerned by this statement and I worry that the Labour Party is riding roughshod over the concerns of women.

Yours sincerely
.....

Shedbuilder · 02/10/2020 11:42

I've just read it and I don't understand. Is this an official Labour Party statement or a personal one by Marsha de Cordova? It reads very oddly. And of course it omits sex as a protected characteristic completely and conflates 'trans people' and 'gender reassignment'. Does Marsha De Cordova think that all trans people have had gender reassignment and hold a GRC? Is she deliberately misrepresenting the legal situation or does she just not understand?

InspiralCoalescenceRingdown · 02/10/2020 11:39

It also misses marriage and civil partnership.

Pretty incompetent to make a an article explaining the Equality Act and then miss off two of the protected characteristics.

Shows how useless the Labour Party have become, if they can't even properly explain their own Act of Parliament.

TyroBurningDownTheCloset · 02/10/2020 11:35

This was shared on the Labour facebook page yesterday. I'm heartened by the number of women who joined me in pointing out the glaring omission - eight of the nine protected characteristics are detailed, but our right to single sex provisions and our right not to be discriminated against due to our sex are totally ignored.

Original poster
weaverbirds · 02/10/2020 11:32

I do have a Labour MP OhHoly. He's been pathetic on women's rights in the past; 'best I work behind the scenes' approach which translates into doing bugger all. But yes, I will write. Need to calm down a bit first!

OP posts:
CopsCantCatchCriminals · 02/10/2020 11:30

Thick buggers. I feel nothing but hostility now to "my" political party.

Daughterofmabel · 02/10/2020 11:28

Ive tweeted the hell out of this nonsense. Anyone on twitter please do the same. Thanks.

Collidascope · 02/10/2020 11:27

She mentions "women who are breastfeeding" and "expectant mums."
It's funny how people who grasp onto trans ideology so eagerly don't understand it at all, about how much change it actually demands.

OhHolyJesus · 02/10/2020 11:25

Do you have a Labour MP OP?

I don't so I might write to Keir Starmer.