A call to all wims to challenge registered charities who claim to be women’s services who include “transwomen”

So, @Hedgehogforshort would you like me to get ChapGPT to make a shortlist?

Short for wimmen = women.

What I suggest we do tomorrow
We start Phase 1 only.
To make that efficient, I’ll:

• pull together an initial longlist of women/girls-only charities, likely including:
• domestic abuse / VAWG services
• rape crisis & sexual violence services
• women’s legal advice charities
• girls’ mentoring and safeguarding organisations
• include charity numbers and objects, so everything is traceable.

• which ones you want to examine first,
• whether to narrow by sector,
• or whether any can be excluded immediately.

• A) Large national charities only
• B) Medium + large (including London-centric bodies)
• C) All sizes (slower but thorough)

Scope choices (you can steer this)
Before I start pulling names and documents, it would help to know how tight you want this:
Option A — High-impact national charities
Examples: domestic abuse, rape crisis, women’s legal aid, girls’ mentoring.
Option B — Funders and umbrella bodies
These often shape policy across the sector (quietly but powerfully).
Option C — Local / service-delivery charities
Smaller, but often more exposed legally.
Option D — A short “red flag” list
Charities whose objects say “women/girls” and whose policies explicitly include biological males.
We can start with one option and expand.

What does wims mean?

I suggest a three-column approach, which I can do for you step-by-step:
✅ Column 1 — Charity identity

• Name
• Charity number
• Area of work (VAWG, mentoring, legal advice, etc.)

• Exact wording from governing document
• Whether beneficiaries are defined as:
• “women/girls” (unqualified)
• “people of all genders”
• explicitly redefined

• Public policy on eligibility
• Evidence of inclusion of biological males
• Whether this appears consistent or inconsistent with objects

🔹 B. What the charity actually does
Evidence includes:

• eligibility policies
• service access statements
• staff guidance
• public FAQs (“we include trans women” etc.)

What actually determines whether a charity is “women-only” in law
Not branding. Not websites. Not press statements.
What matters is:
🔹 A. The charitable objects (binding)
Found in:

• the charity’s constitution / trust deed
• Charity Commission register entry (“What the charity does / Who it helps” is indicative, but objects are decisive)

• “women and girls”
• “females”
• “women suffering domestic abuse”
• “girls and young women”

The legal position (brief, but important)
Following the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers (2024):

• “Sex” in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex, not gender identity.
• A charity whose charitable purpose is the benefit of women or girls is therefore:
• lawfully entitled to restrict its beneficiaries to biological females, and
• not lawfully entitled to extend those benefits to biological males if doing so defeats or contradicts its stated objects.

• Charities must act within their charitable objects.
• Trustees have a legal duty to ensure activities further the stated purpose, not redefine it by policy drift.
• The Charity Commission can intervene where a charity:
• misapplies funds, or
• operates outside its governing document.

Here's ChatGPT, in bold. I've edited it down, but still long...

You’re essentially trying to do due diligence: identify UK charities whose objects say they exist to benefit women and/or girls (sex = biological sex), and then check whether their actual practice or policies are now inconsistent with that purpose — which matters legally and regulatorily after the Supreme Court decision.

I'm getting some helpful answers from ChatGPT, will share tomorrow.

I was remembering the police Trustees at the charity Safelives not SARSAS- check them out here:
https://safelives.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/our-people/

Savelives has a lot of influence nationally and wrote the trans inclusion guidance used by many abuse support orgs stating no organisation is allowed to have single sex abuse support for women -as it excludes men who lie they are women. Their 2024 'Impact report' made no mention of the female victims they excluded from help- funny that. Exclusion of GC women and victims of trans attackers who need SS services from help seems to be central to their operation. Here is their current page on this:
https://safelives.org.uk/resources-library/trans-inclusion-guidance/

Putting off obeying the law protecting women for as long as possible. Hypocrites one and all.....

Would be happy to help with this. I do have some sympathy when charities have to include blokes or get no funding at all which is dreadful.

Womankind are a classic example of this. This is from their governing document

Charitable objects
To help women and girls improve their mental health and well-being (particularly, but not limited to those whose mental health and well-being has been affected by sexual violence or abuse), through the provision of advice and information, and the provision of free or affordable support and professional therapy, and a therapeutic environment.

so yes they are breaking their constifution

Yes I believe the Police and crime commissionners have funding from the MoJ to fund victim services. Such services get funding from different pots- local councils and NHS also chip in.

In Avon and Somerset area the police AND the commissionner were very involved in the decision to end female only abuse support (which they did at the same time as lying publicly they supported female victims of male violence). Nextlink were just one example, and until recently senior police held trustee roles in SARSAS (who run the rape abuse support services) and did so the entire time women who need SS support were excluded.

Have a look at this group of current SARSAS trustees all with TRA pronouns- they have been very reluctant to allow female only rape support.
www.sarsas.org.uk/who-we-are/our-trustees/

I'm keen to help with this, I've been getting used to writing letters since I first found Mumsnet! I will look locally to see what I can find.

I believe that the police and crime commissioners have some discretion to spend on work that is "community engagement". Quite what the parameters are I'm not sure but this was challenged in the the court case in Northumbria last year.

Posters may find this article from 2024 helpful as an example of the problems faced. At that point the Charity Commission refused to act. The charities in this article are apparently all funded by organisations that require them to include men in groups for women as a condition of funding (eg Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council, police etc). This has continued despite the SC judgement.

IIJM that thinks it's a little odd that the police should fund anyone, whether laudable or not? Shouldn't the police budget be spent on, er, policing, and disbursing money to various worthy causes be left to other parts of government? Surely this is another example of politicising the police?

Posters may find this article from 2024 helpful as an example of the problems faced. At that point the Charity Commission refused to act. The charities in this article are apparently all funded by organisations that require them to include men in groups for women as a condition of funding (eg Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council, police etc). This has continued despite the SC judgement.

https://childrenoftransitioners.org/the-trans-lobby-has-destroyed-provision-for-female-abuse-victims-in-bristol-and-elsewhere-and-will-do-the-same-for-the-victims-bill/

In recent weeks, I understand the Police Commissionner has told SARSAS, (whom the police part fund to provide rape support), to obey the law, and the Director of Bristol Womens Voice (who seeks to silence and exclude all GC women, including abuse survivors) has announced she is moving on. Whether this will result in any changes I have no idea.

Womankind Bristol- whose charity beneficiaries were supposed to be women and girls (especially those who have experienced sexual abuse) state on their website as at 13.2.26 'Womankind is for women and for those who identify as such in a significant way, including those who experience discrimination as women for instance trans women, intersex women, and non-binary people. We aim to provide safe spaces for all women, irrespective of their gender identity and we will avoid making assumptions about your pronouns. '(https://www.womankindbristol.org.uk/about-us/our-commitment-to-equality-diversity-and-inclusion)

The failure of many charities to adhere to the UK SC ruling needs intervention from the Charity Commission and government, so good luck and thanks to all the mumsnetters who help out @Hedgehogforshort ...I think many charities are just assuming that because many vulnerable female 'beneficiaries' don't have the financial or mental resources to take them to court, they will carry on as they are as so many charities are run by TRAs.

I'd be up to help out with this.

Mumsnet at its finest. I want to be involved too.

I'm still plugging away at this

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