International Women’s Day Q&A with Penny Mordaunt MP, Secretary of State for International Development NOW CLOSED TO NEW QUESTIONS

[JustineMumsnet]

[EDITED BY MNHQ: Questions have now been collated and sent over - new questions may not be answered]

Hello all,

We’re very pleased to announce a Q&A with Penny Mordaunt MP, Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women and Equalities.

Please post your questions on this thread by lunchtime on Wednesday March 6. We’ll send on a selection to the Minister and we will post up written answers from Penny on this thread this coming Friday (March 8), International Women’s Day.

In her role as Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt oversees DFID’s work ending extreme poverty overseas, including programmes focused on girls’ education and women’s health. DFID has been in the news recently, facing calls for its budget to be spent partly on encouraging projects that would aid British business overseas, and for it to be folded into the Foreign Office instead of being a standalone department.

In her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, Penny is also responsible for work including gender pay gap reporting and possible changes to the law concerning gender recognition.

Penny campaigned for Brexit in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum and is a Royal Naval Reservist. She has previously been Minister of State for Disabled People and Minister of State for the Armed Forces.

Please add your questions for Penny here by Wednesday lunchtime. And although it’s not a live webchat please stick to the spirit of our webchat guidelines and keep it civil.

If one topic is overwhelmingly dominating responses we might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. Rest assured we will ALWAYS make the recipient aware that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Thanks
Justine

Nb existing members will be able to post on this thread. Thanks.

Transwomen are a whole different ball game as their XX chromosomes open up a different medical risk profile

Just to avoid confusion, Penny thinks "transwomen" are biologically male people identifying as women eg XY.

Is this still on feminist chat page ? Just looked and it wasn't ...not possible to comment either....

Sorry meant to quote properly.

For example I can see that poverty might make you less likely, as in you cant afford the bus fare to go to the clinic, or having kids to look after, or a disability, or illiteracy, or poor English...all of which factors will affect lesbian and heterosexual women alike. But being homosexual per se?

Women who have been raped or sexually abused are also significantly less likely to attend routine smear tests. This is an important women's health issue which is rarely acknowledged.

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3533532-Eleanor-Scott-article-Did-Mumsnet-Just-Hand-Penny-Mordaunt-Her-Arse

The Equality Act exists to guard against discrimination on the grounds of a number of protected characteristics, including sex. There are many women who do not menstruate, who do not bear children, who do not produce eggs, for whatever reason. They are still covered by the protected characteristic of sex.

Because women are subordinated due to their sex Penny, not their gender identity.

And yes Rebecca Root, a transwoman did indeed make this argument. As do all male TRAs.

Root was implying that as not all women's biology is the same, then men's biology is just another variation thereof.

To back up the argument that men should be admitted/employed in rape refuges.

To a rape survivor.

In a rape refuge.

On national tv.

Well done for that echo, Penny.

Datun I love you

She has shown us who she is.

Datun I love you wine

Right backatcha

So, where to go with this @justine mumsnet ? Will the basis for talks ignore all the valid questions that were ignored?

Datun and Ereshkigal are you sharing the wine and gin tonight?

Thanks DeRigueur. I am quite a lightweight so there will be plenty left over for anyone else.

So Penny.. thinks transwomen are women?

This is my very simple question (after the event, I know) - A woman is a man who says he is a woman?

Well, I've seen better MN webchats in my time...what a car crash

She has shown us who she is.

An adult female human?

She doesn't know who we are.

R0wantrees

A woman is a man who says he is a woman

That about sums it up.

This thread is no longer pinned and in fact wasn't even on the page 1 feminist chat page. i found it through a link.

How can Penny claim to represent women when she don’t know what one is?

The new Relationships and Sex Education guidance will help children to understand LGBT issues in an age-appropriate way. It does not set out exactly how a school should teach about LGBT issues, but instead says that the school should cover LGBT when it considers it appropriate, and they are free to determine how they do this.

Safeguarding loophole right there Penny.

With no gatekeeping how are children going to be themselves without being given inappropriate labels far too young which could lead them down certain paths which could ultimately be more distressing?

You said you enjoyed football when young. How would you have felt being called trans? By other children and by the school? Would you have started to doubt your 'identity'?

This is a film from a "trans aware" charity. The group of girls stand and gossip while a group of boys plays football. The girl in the video wants to play footbal but girls don't play football, they stand around and gossip. The girl must really be a boy.

This is the sort of stuff being promoted by groups who will be invited into schools to deliver their "expert opinions."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NliXT67yy8&timecontinue=5

No gatekeeping means loopholes.

Loopholes mean safeguarding issues.

Well this has at least found its intended audience

This is LBT women’s health week. We know that lesbian, bisexual and transgender women are less likely to participate in services such as cancer screening

Surely if anything, this should read 'lesbian, bisexual and females who are transgender (ie. transmen) are les slikely to...'

Transwomens health needs are completely different to any females needs. Also I am fairly sure transmen are at increased cancer risk if they are on testosterone. So they should surely be included in this..

This pretending transwomen are the same as women (adult human females, whether they menstruate or not, that is Penny ) is fairly dangerous really when talking about health matters.