Feminism: chat
How to respond to questions at work
lochmaree · 17/08/2021 14:24
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!
lochmaree · 17/08/2021 17:13
@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.
lochmaree · 17/08/2021 17:50
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
crankysaurus · 18/08/2021 07:31
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.
Creuset · 18/08/2021 11:00
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!
Binnaggy · 18/08/2021 11:08
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lochmaree · 18/08/2021 13:17
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!
Ionlydomassiveones · 18/08/2021 13:21
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Binnaggy · 18/08/2021 15:15
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lochmaree · 18/08/2021 21:55
@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.
lochmaree · 18/08/2021 22:01
@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.
iwanttobeonleave · 24/08/2021 19:12
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 · 24/08/2021 19:19
@iwanttobeonleave
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!
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