How to respond to questions at work

[lochmaree]

My workplace recently proposed replacing the women's network with a gender equality network.

They are asking for opinions, and I feel that I should give mine. so far I have

• I support a gender equality network in addition to (not instead of) the women's network
• a question asking does the women's network represent gender or sex
• that sex is a protected characteristic so why get rid of a group supporting that and replace it with something not a protected characteristic
• biological women are affected by issues directly related to sex, which gender doesn't cover

There is also a question that if the new network were to go ahead, what key things would i need to be able to support it

• that women's sex based rights are not overlooked as a result of focusing on gender
• that gender and sex are not conflated
• that any outside training/guidance/support comes from fully regulated organisations, ie avoiding those not supported by the government

Probably worded poorly but any other ideas? should I raise these? it would be my first time raising anything like this at work!

Thats really good, not poorly worded at all. Do they have an LGB/LGBT network? Or a disability network?

Keep us updated and let us know how you get on.

All of the above, and as soon as possible, OP, before they just steam roller it through at the expense of women.

I think my first question would be why?

Followed by your comment about supporting a gender quality group in addition to the women's group.

What you've written sounds clear and concise - good luck!

@Thelnebriati they have an LGBTQ network and a disability network. they do represent most groups pretty well I think through the networks but I dont get why they want to replace womens with gender other than women is becoming a bit contentious. they are a top 100 Stonewall employer and afaik they didnt withdraw when lots of other organisations did earlier in the year.

@Babdoc the focus group is this week, bit worried but hopefully it'll be OK!

@Waitwhat23 OK good yes I forgot the obvious one! the women's network is good so why replace it. thanks!

I have added

• since there are networks to represent other protected characteristics, why can women, since sex is a protected characteristic, not have one specifically for women? Will other networks representing protected characteristics be renamed or replaced?
• replacing the women's network with a gender network removes the space for discussion and support related to women specifically
• a gender equality network instead of a women's network changes the dynamic - gender represents social constructs not biological sex, so for example a gender group may discuss the implications of gender bias, gender norms, whereas a sex based group for women may discussions implications around period care at work, menopause

You could also point out that transgender rights and women’s rights are in direct conflict in many areas, such as single sex facilities, and getting rid of the women’s network means that they will not have a voice.

I'd suggest you have a few more topics in your back pocket for the women's network that wouldn't be picked up as much in a gender one, you mention menopause and period care, there's also sex discrimination (against women), gender pay gap (which really should be sex pay gap but let's not go there), maternity, flexible working, women in leadership, etc.

thank you @Babdoc and @crankysaurus - I have added these to my list of points.

Your questions are great, OP.

It reminds me of when the British Psychological Society renamed its “Psychology of Women” section to “Psychology of Women and Equalities.” Around the same time, they voted to create a “Male Psychology” section. You couldn’t make it up!

Quite a few BPS members resigned in protest.

Good luck, @lochmaree!

wow there was significant support for the points I listed above! 2 other people were strongly supportive and others hadn't considered some of the points raised so that felt good to have spoken out. only one person clearly advocated changing the name, everyone else was middle ground or against changing the name. but gender and sex being different things was clearly discussed and I think a few people on the call, possibly the majority, rightly saw including men and women together a good thing due to the chances to work together on things like shared parental leave but hadn't considered the wider implications and impacts on women as a sex group. also couple of us mentioned the equality act and protected characteristics! I feel like it was worth raising these (I am shaking and been nervous all morning!) so thank you for the support!

Brilliant! Glad it went well - well done you

@Binnaggy yep! they want to follow the example of the Home Office swap from women's network to gender network. they are holding focus groups and we had so much to say that it ran over by 10 or 15 minutes! hopefully there'll at least be some opinions heard on it.

@Ionlydomassiveones agreed! I was so worried and everyone who had similar points to me also voiced how difficult it is to talk about this.

@Binnaggy and @Waitwhat23 thank you! it feels good to know that other people at work feel like I do and also that I can raise these points - they made it very clear at the beginning that the meeting was confidential and that we could say anything (with reason!) without judgement or fear. so that was good too.

Good for you OP, it just takes a few challenges to different workplaces to start turning the Titanic and the points you made were great.

Fantastic work OP.

I resigned at work last week and my boss wanted to use "she wants to spend time with her family" as the reason that he would tell our clients.

The reason was actually because I hate the role.

He'd never have asked a male colleague to give this as a reason would he?

@iwanttobeonleave

I resigned at work last week and my boss wanted to use "she wants to spend time with her family" as the reason that he would tell our clients.

The reason was actually because I hate the role.

He'd never have asked a male colleague to give this as a reason would he?

Sorry- wrong thread!