To think that a Rape Crisis centre should not have a transwoman CEO?

[ArabellaScott]

Mridhul Wadhwa has just been appointed CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis. The job was advertised as for women only. Mridhul is a transwoman (born male) without a Gender Recognition Certificate.

AIBU to think that women survivors of rape and sexual violence should be able to have a female only space?

theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2021/05/new-boss-for-edinburgh-rape-crisis-centre/

So it is First Day, but taught wrong.

It is mind-blowing how many public sector organisations, charities and businesses do not even manage to quote the Equality Act 2010 correctly.

The Act created 9 protected characteristics which are protected in law from discrimination:

age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation

All diversity and inclusion policies are based in this legislation.
Women have found that their councils, children's schools, workplaces etc fail to state that sex is a protected characteristic. Without recognition of sex, it becomes unlikely that sex discrimination can be identified and/or challenged.

Resources to assist in correction of policies:
womansplaceuk.org/councils-and-the-equality-act/

womansplaceuk.org/2020/07/20/making-policies-equality-act-compliant/

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/letter-templates/#Sex_is_an_Equality_Act_Protected_Characteristic_letter

Thanks to all the posters on this thread for their informative, reasoned posts, and for the links and videos. It’s certainly been an eye opening thread, for me at least.

What can we do?

Check the Diversity & Inclusion policies of your council, workplace, childrens' schools etc
If they are incorrect and do not clearly list sex and gender reassignment separately this has most likely happened in good faith using what was believed to be a trusted source.
Gender/ gender identity are not protected characteristics.
A simple, polite, factual letter pointing to the actual legislation will often result in a change.
Girls and women need policies in place which protect them against sex discrimination and also enable the exceptions which provide for single sex spaces/services for privacy, dignity and safety.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/4

Thanks I have written to OSCR expressing my concern.
This really is too much.
And I take the point about focussing on the legalities of the appointment. It seems so underhanded and will deter women from seeking help there. I will also donate to new single-sex shelters when the time comes.

I can’t stop thinking about this comment, I’m sickened by it:
“ AIBU to think that women survivors of rape and sexual violence should be able to have a female only space?

Yes. 100%”

Are you really saying that If you had a daughter who was raped and she told you she needed to have a female only space to get through it, you’d tell her she was being unreasonable? You wouldn’t want her to have whatever she needed to recover? What a metaphorical kick in the teeth!

It is easy for women in refuges, prisons and mental health wards to be overlooked and ignored because we do not see them and as a society we do not care.

I’m sure I’ve read that women would most likely be imprisoned for not paying the TV licence than any other reason (getting into a poverty trap, not being able to pay the bills then not being able to pay the fines).
I’ve also read that the government is planning to build more women’s prison spaces.
With single parents most affected from poverty due to the pandemic, it could be anyone posting here finding themselves destined for one of those new prison spaces. You might want to pray you don’t get housed alongside someone like Michelle Winter, then find yourself wanting a single sex hospital ward, followed by single sex rape crisis centre.
You never know what might happen and where your life might take you

OSCR form completed
Please do it- only takes a few minutes and can be anonymous if you prefer

A simple, polite, factual letter pointing to the actual legislation will often result in a change.

I've tried this and was ignored, I am not the only one to mention it to this particular organisation; a union which represents a predominantly female profession. I'd name and shame but it would probably be deleted.

@Eyesofdisarray

OSCR form completed Please do it- only takes a few minutes and can be anonymous if you prefer

Just done mine too.

For info, the charity number is : SC 006208

For the two questions, I wrote the following, but do compose your own variation:

The charity is in breach of the Equalities Act 2010 because it appointed a male to a role advertised as for female candidates only. The issue is therefore two fold:
1. They have gone against their own policy (of recruiting females only for this role)
2. They have discriminated against any other males who may have wished to have applied for the role.

^The male appointed is as per this announcement: www.ercc.scot/welcome-to-mridul-wadhwa-our-new-ceo/^

This person is male because they were born male and they do not have a Gender Recognition Certificate because they are an overseas national and the only way for an overseas national to gain one is to complete the equivalent process in their country of birth, and for that country to be on the list of those whose gender recognition system is recognised by the UK. India is not on the recognised list.

Complaint to the Equality and Human Rights Commission as well? Or are they burying their heads in the sand about this?

I work in a local authority not anywhere near HR or policy or equalities. However twice now I have got them to correct their online training courses on safeguarding where they used the words sexuality, and gender instead of sex. Regarding safeguarding of vulnerable adults I couldn’t make sense of a sentence using the word sexuality. No one had a leg to stand on as I referred them to the equality act. So go and look at your councils policies, their online training courses etc. You will feel wonderful in a very little way and helping some of the powerful and brave women and organisations like Fair Play to Women etc etc.

I agree Diwoo. The lack of understanding about safeguards, alongside the limited compassion for vulnerable women in is really quite astounding. Women need same sex spaces for safety, and to allow them space to heal.

It is mind-blowing how many public sector organisations, charities and businesses do not even manage to quote the Equality Act 2010 correctly.

Yup, including those with websites ending .gov.uk

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/equality-and-diversity

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service/about/equality-and-diversity

www.gov.uk/employers-responsibilities-equality-monitoring

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about/equality-and-diversity

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-act-2020-equality-impact-assessment/coronavirus-act-2020-the-public-sector-equalities-duty-impact-assessment

You can "Report a problem with this page" on these webpages - I encourage this!

@HannaHat

Thanks to all the posters on this thread for their informative, reasoned posts, and for the links and videos. It’s certainly been an eye opening thread, for me at least.

Echoed, and I'll certainly be following that link and submitting my own concerns.

What unfortunately hasn't come as a surprise is the contempt in which rape victims are so frequently held. I've personally been trolled on this site for expressing my unreserved disgust at that attitude. #MeToo also taught us that society is uncomfortable with our trauma. It's uncomfortable, too, with the cause of that trauma (men's abuse) and would prefer to believe it's the women who are lying. We've all heard the soundbites. 'Jumping on the bandwagon'. 'NAMALT'. Or the general attitudes: 'nice women don't talk about that sort of thing'.

Rape victims are persecuted twice, or sometimes three times. Once by our abusers, once (that's if you're fortunate enough to get a hearing) by the 'justice' system, and again by a society who marginalise and discredit us, endorse the men who abuse us, and - an attitude I'll never understand - are invested in keeping the status quo precisely as it is. It's even more unfathomable that some women take this attitude. Who, exactly, benefits from this?

Abusers rely on our silence. I am never shutting up, and never missing any opportunity to fight this on whatever small level (like filling out that form) is open to me.

I still don't really understand why this person was appointed though. I mean i understand why they wanted the job, and the risks that this will bring to the service, and how changes could be brought in under the radar to this and other services as a result. But why was it allowed to happen - there must already be members of the hiring committee/board/whoever that also have this agenda, in addition to the person that was hired? Otherwise surely they would see the problems. It sounds like it's some kind of inside job, both to allow this person to apply, and to be appointed - the organsiation must already want to stop the single-sex provision, because of something or someone pressuring them or someone already on the inside? Is doesn't sound like it's funding issues, but who/why then? Why do they so badly need to be woke/diverse/inclusive, rather than just letting things lie, and only dealing with the problem of a transwoman insisting on working at and/or using the service if it comes up (which it sounds like they already could have done, by using the exemptions in the equality act). It seems like a much more deliberate statement to make this choice, rather than something foisted on them because refusing the hire/allow transwomen in would have resulted in bad publicity/cutting off funding etc like in other places. So why are they wanting to do this? I don't know anything about the history of this particular group. I do understand that some places feel obliged to be inclusive when challenged to force them to allow transwomen into a particular service, but it doesn't sound like this was the case here.

NB. Equating victims of sexual trauma with racism is about the lowest I've seen yet. And I've seen some people go very low indeed.

Why should it be a woman ?

Women aren't the only ones to experience rape and men aren't always the rapists

Did you read any of the responses before you posted that?

Maybe RTWT and answer your own question.

It's a point of law.

You don't have to consider anything else. Just note that the appointment breaks the law.

@123feraverto

Why should it be a woman ?

Women aren't the only ones to experience rape and men aren't always the rapists

Read the thread. Your questions have been repeatedly addressed.

@123feraverto

Why should it be a woman ?

Women aren't the only ones to experience rape and men aren't always the rapists

Why don’t you read the thread before you post?

There are 917 posts on it and your contribution has already been discussed.

And maybe also look up the UK definition of rape.

@MiladyBerserko I believe that's the strategy that has been adopted because people who are not aware of the current debate just won't believe it could or is happening. Women who initially raised concerns that housing convicted sex offenders in the women's estate would lead to rape of vulnerable women were told that it wouldn't happen, don't be so ridiculous, that's just feminist hyperbole and we now have court cases raised by women who have been raped in prison by fellow inmates. When women raised concerns about the erasure of the word woman, they were told don't be hysterical, of course that's not happening, you're just taking things to a ridiculous level of whataboutery, and now the Tampax (US) website refers to 'swimming vagina havers'.

People who aren't aware of the debate will come to realise what is happening and will be concerned but by that time it will be too late to change it - precedents will have been set, it'll just be the status quo, 'it's always been that way and no-one complained'. This is why it so important that women be heard now.

Does anyone have any information on the background of those responsible for making this recruitment decision?

@123feraverto

Why should it be a woman ?

Women aren't the only ones to experience rape and men aren't always the rapists

I've been away from the thread for a while because I've been on the phone to the Children's Hospital orthopaedic department demanding they see me (a 42 year old woman) because not only children get broken bones and they are exclusionary.

@CirclesWithinCircles

Does anyone have any information on the background of those responsible for making this recruitment decision?

I'd also like to know what the legal position is for employers who make a sensitive appointment like this and then realize it's been made on the basis of deception. The recruitment literature seems clearly to have stated that this is a women only role. I'd be interested to learn whether the protestation 'but I am a woman' would carry any waters legally.

This is what happens when sex and gender are conflated, and it's why women are consistently telling us that sex matters. The erasure of 'woman' leads us to murky places where the waters should be as transparently clear as the Emperor's new clothes.

What an absolute fucking farce.

I am wondering if there's any way this thread can be saved, or moved to someplace it won't disappear, because it is so hugely informative.

I will admit that my knowledge and understanding of the whole trans debate is limited, and it's something I've been trying to improve. I often find myself really frustrated that I don't have the words to express my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I am so impressed with how articulate and eloquent so many of the posts on this thread have been, and they have been hugely helpful to me.

I am also so glad that this thread is in AIBU rather than just on the Feminist board, as it will have reached a far bigger audience. I can't be the only person who is intersted but keenly aware of my ignorance at the same time. I'm certain that I'm not the only one who has found this thread informative and empowering. I will continue to try and educate myself as much as I can on this topic and I will no longer stand idly by while the world my DD is growing up in seems to becoming a less and less safe place for her, as a young female.

Thank you all, in particular @Ereshkigalangcleg, @PurgatoryOfPotholes, @TalkingtoLangClegintheDark, @Redapplewreath, @Helleofabore and of course the OP. I'd even like to thank @BetterKateThanNever as it was good to hear the 'arguments' brought forward by someone who claims to represent the trans movement and indeed it helped to cement my own views and have confidence that it doesn't make a horrible bigot to believe that sex matters.