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.

Hello Penny, thanks for coming on.

Stonewall has recently tweeted that they'll be coming into primary schools "educating" on their definition of inclusivity and how to best manage it in schools etc. Whilst they've done great things in the past in my opinion (I'm a former donor, very pro-diversity and big Simon Fanshawe fan) you will be aware that Stonewall is currently under public scrutiny for their doctrines which allegedly EXclude women's rights and dignity (via generalized misogyny and homophobia) in their approach to transgenderism.

Given that they still employ Aimee Challenor as a consultant (see recent Verita report assessment of ACs lack of comprehension of safeguarding) what measures are in place to counteract the risk of their influencing this programme in schools?

Given also that they now employ Morgan Page (producer of a workshop to help heterosexual males "Overcome the Cotton Ceiling" to persuade lesbians to have intercourse with them, under the "transwomen are women" mantra) what measures are in place to counteract the risk of their influencing this programme in schools?

Please could I kindly suggest a review of all educational interfaces with organisations such as this (so, Gendered Intelligence etc as well) and ensure any training materials are fully legally compliant with the specifics of EA2010 inc recent amendments. LEAs should undergo formal legal compliance reviews too (maintaining compulsory inclusion of biological sex as protected characteristic in all their paperwork at the very least) given they frequently inform safeguarding and data collection policies at local level.

Thank you again for coming here, and for all of your hard work.

Hi Justine and MNHQ, I know that you are only passing a selection of these questions on to Penny to answer online on IWD, but is there any chance you could, in fact, pass on all of them?

This would be on the understanding that only the aforementioned selection would be formally answered on the day, but this is feeling like an important thread and all the questions are intelligently asked, well researched and easily evidenced.

We are potentially at a watershed moment regarding the topics covered by most of these questions. Irrespective of whether one agrees with the issues at hand, I think it's really important that as Women & Equalities Minister, Penny has the opportunity to read all the questions in her own time without the pressure to publically answer them.

In my opinion, all of these questions deserve to be read, as they represent the views of a significant number of women, across all areas of the country. As the Minister heading up the GRA consultation, it would be great if Penny had the opportunity to read the views of women, many of whom may not have had the opportunity to submit evidence to the consultation.

Many of these questions reference important medical evidence that has only come to light since the consultation, as well as valid concerns about the organisations that are training public bodies around these issues.

I'm not asking MN to take a position, just to ask nicely whether you would be able to pass on all of this to Penny, while, of course, onoly asking to address a selection.

Many Thanks on behalf of all of us

MrsToddsShortcut

Seconded

MrsToddsShortcut

Thirded

Fourthed

Hi Penny

I know there is an government investigation into ROGD in girls. I'm not sure if that has started?

I believe the evidence is that girls are trying to identify out of femalehood. Which is unsurprising given their objectification, amist the porn soaked world of our current teens (see Teen Vogue advocating for under age anal sex).

If transitioning, these girls will be offered puberty blockers.

The continual refrain has been that puberty blockers are wholly reversible and merely serve as a delaying tactic.

New evidence shows that contrary to this assertion, children drop approx eight IQ points.

Eight.

Research into puberty blocking on sheep, shows that they lose special awareness, memory, etc, which is NOT recoverable if they stop taking puberty blockers.

It seems that instead of giving drugs to animals to test and then giving them to children. We have been giving them to children to test, and then giving them to animals afterwards.

Given that the general public is told puberty blockers are reversible and that almost 100% of children who start puberty blockers go onto cross sex hormones, do you think them dropping eight IQ points might have something to do with those two things being linked???

"A reduction in long-term spatial memory persists after discontinuation of peripubertal GnRH agonist treatment in sheep"

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453016307922

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3525450-Tavistock-s-Experimentation-with-Puberty-Blockers-Scrutinizing-the-Evidence?msgid=85390419#85390419

MrsToddsShortcut
Fourthed!

MrsToddsShortcut
Fifthed then!

Thirded.

I totally agree with comments about the CRIA, and exactly the same points apply to England and Wales. It's scandalous. One thing I want to know is, what is the role of the EHRC in all this? According to their website their role is "Promoting and upholding equality and human rights ideals and laws across England, Scotland and Wales."

Well that clearly doesn't apply when it comes to women's rights in relation to trans rights . In reality the Government and EHRC are doing damn all when half the population is being stripped of their rights, in fact they appear to cheering this on. And they wonder why the public loses confidence in politicians!

Seventhed, I think!

MrsToddsShortcut

Eighthed.

Ninthed!

As the Minister heading up the GRA consultation, it would be great if Penny had the opportunity to read the views of women, many of whom may not have had the opportunity to submit evidence to the consultation

Adding my voice to support of this.

The main thing that angered me about the GRA consultation was the way in which a whole lot of men were taking it upon themselves to completely redefine what it is to be a woman.

So Ms Mordaunt, imagine if a whole lot of white people decided to redefine what it is to be black, in order to claim that they [the white people] were "really" black, and it was racist to suggest otherwise?

I suspect no-one would stand for that. But it's OK for a minority (0.5% of the population) to demand to redefine the existence of 51% of the population?

MrsToddsShortcut

Well put. Ninthed

MrsToddsShortcut

agreed. The volume of questions is quite reasonable - I think people have made a real effort to stay within the guidelines because we all really want this opportunity to engage with Penny Mordaunt.

It would be great to know that she's had the opportunity to read all the feedback here, and even greater to know that she's actually read it.

I've reported MrsToddsShortcut post, in order to bring it to the attention of HQ. I believe the more reports they have, the quicker they will see it.

Justinemumsnet has already talked of ongoing engagement, and this thread.is an excellent basis for that.

Tenthed

I would also like to say that I agree that CharlieParley's question at 11:15 is really important and would like to request that if answering my question then the following Article 39 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is considered: "States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child"

In other words I believe that girls who have experienced sexual abuse, most of who will feel unable to speak up, should not be subject to the potentially very distressing impact of mixed sex spaces such as school toilets, changing rooms or shared overnight accommodation. Nor should a girl feel that is necessary to exclude herself from these (now mixed sex) spaces as this will impact on her recovery and social reintegration.

As I stated previously single sex spaces were very important to my ability navigate and intergrate in society following my own childhood experience of sexual abuse.

And thank you Penny for doing this and Justine for organising it.

Of ALL the ministers to ask on MN, this one?!

I am sure someone will have already contributed the elephant in the room, but my phrasing of it is "please define a woman in a way that does not use the word 'woman' as a definer".

I will now go and RTFT...

MrsToddsShortcut tenthed, eleventhed or twelthed; and reported too.

I agree all the comments should be passed on as "Briefing Notes"-whatever the event questions are decided by MN.
Hi Penny-there is Guidance (can give link-2015 edition of "Stronger Together") that women need to be "re-educated", as if racist, if feel uncomfortable with male bodied people in women only spaces, which are usually sex segregated (protected under EA2010) because women using them are vulnerable etc. so men are, legally, not allowed in them.
A Law Centre has advised (can provide link on Twitter) that, if this advice is followed by Shelters/Hostels etc.:
" they may well be discriminating on grounds of sex, religion or belief. The issue of conflict of rights in Equality Act is well known issue in discrimination law but activists want it overlooked."
Do you agree that extending the GRA could lead to even more situations where there will be lack of clarity leading to a conflict of rights (affecting predominantly the rights of women and girls) & what Equality Impact Assessments will be carried out, by the Government, (including women not engaged with funded women's groups) before any changes are made?

Why do we even need your department? Why could your department not be dissolved into the foreign office where the money could be used just as wisely.

While the tories have decimated public services, left hundreds in poverty, been hostile to immigration and now leading us on the shit show that's brexit, what is so special about your department and why should we keep it?

Cabinet ministers get 141k plus a year pay and to be quite frank can you justify the pay for the work you actually do?

Might be too late but....

Given the seemingly complete acceptance of politicians and government of Stonwall’s partisan redrafting of meanings of words and terms, eg Woman, Female, Trans, Gender, Sex etc. Do you feel it vital that ALL current legislation should be reviewed to ensure laws are not twisted, by using a current definition of gender, when sex is now more appropriate. Also, as even government departments appear to not understand/know which are protected categories, do you not feel that such sloppy work should be immediately corrected.
Along this line, it is sloppy to call and report on a Gender Pay Gap - It is a Sex Pay Gap.