Fighting Gender Ideology in the WI

[WomensInstituteDeclaration]

People on this thread are well aware of the ideological capture of the Women's Institute by the trans lobby. We are fighting back and need your help!

Please can you sign the petition to demand a moratorium on trans women joining the WI, to have a debate about this direction, and a vote.

The request has been formally turned down by the Board of Trustees of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, after a formal submission in February this year.

There is a question to ask whether or not you are a member so we can disaggregate the results.

DM us if you want to get further involved, especially if you are a WI member who disagrees with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2021 and share as widely as you can too.

Thank you for your help.

Sarah

just put your first name or nickname!

We have a working men’s club and a WI in my town. Men can join the WI but the working men’s club is a private members club and only men can join. Women can only visit as a guest of a man!! As long as the men are ok.

@Happylittlechicken - this exactly, thank you. That was one of our lines of thought too. Imagine how devastating that would be for a trans widow.

@HowardKirksConscience It was a difficult thing to include, but we didn't want the Board of Trustees to not listen, by including this we hoped they would start to consider the point of view of members who disagree with the policy.
Nor did we want to alienate the members who are ambiguous on the policy.

However, the submission was completely dismissed, which is why we started the petition and are now building grass roots support.

@Wonderingiforifnot I think in practical terms it would rely on people being honest about who they are. Legally we are led to believe that those in possession of a GRC are legally female, and would have to be allowed to join, therefore it's not unreasonable to ask for a GRC, currently we don't ask for any ID, you just pay the fee and fill in a form.

We believe in a proper debate on the matter, which would lead to different options members could vote on. The WI prides itself on being a democratic organisation that is membership led, but this policy has changed constitutions (allowed men to join) and was not voted on. We queried this and were informed it didn't need a vote as it's a policy change, not a change in constitutions. The two are in direct conflict, but the Board of Trustees refuses to acknowledge this.

*IneedanewTV" · Today 06:56

We have a working men’s club and a WI in my town. Men can join the WI but the working men’s club is a private members club and only men can join.

Really? I thought that had changed a long time ago. As a teenager, my then girlfriend was a member of the village club, lots of women were. There was a men's bar, women were allowed in early, for darts team practice and on darts night.

She proposed me as a member. That was 1987, I think it was a "lax" one, others wouldn't let women propose new members.

I thought that they'd had to allow women legally for years.

Can I just add a point of clarity - it’s perfectly legal to exclude even transwomen with a GRC from a single sex female organisation. You do not have to accept them as members.

Are you asking us to believe, @wheresmymojo , that when we see a transwoman walking towards us we cannot identify that person as male? Gait is completely different, not matter what make up, clothes, wigs and surgeries and carefully posed and filtered photos might achieve.

It is legal under the Equality Act 2010 to exclude a transwoman, even one holding a GRC, from a women’s organisation if their inclusion would mean some women couldn’t take part.

I really don't think you can tell for sure! There's lots of accounts of masculine looking women being misidentified as trans women.

But practically, if the submission is passed, and you require everyone to show ID to register as a member, I still don't think you can police it, can you? I just googled and it seems to be that most of your ID can be updated without a GRC and you can update your birth cert with a GRC.

Advice from gov.uk
Apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate if you want your affirmed gender (sometimes called an ‘acquired gender’) to be legally recognised in the UK.
Having a certificate means you can:

• update your birth or adoption certificate, if it was registered in the UK
• get married or form a civil partnership in your affirmed gender
• update your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if it was registered in the UK
• have your affirmed gender on your death certificate when you die

It will not change your legal status as the father or mother of a child. You do not need a certificate to:

• update your driving licence
• update your passport
• update your medical records, employments records or your bank account

in 99.99% of cases 99.99% of people can correctly identify the sex of a person from
how they walk

imho

I really don't think you can tell for sure! There's lots of accounts of masculine looking women being misidentified as trans women

Spend 10 minutes in the company of someone and in 99.9% of cases you’ll be able to tell what sex they are. Neck thickness and adam’s apple, height, body shape esp shoulders and hips, gait, size of feet, voice, skin and hair texture, and on and on…it’s not hard at all.

That's very precise for an opinion!

From my experience, I've been mistaken about people.

I follow a woman on Twitter who keeps a thread of times she's been challenged about her gender and she isn't trans.

I think if you tried to police a ban based on just being able to tell, you would miss trans women & accidentally challenge other women you didn't think seemed/walked femininely enough.

Absolutely this! So sick of the whole 'but how would we know' nonsense.

I've signed, thank you for bringing attention to this.

Future WI member if they go back to being the actual-Women's Institute.

Be interesting to know who that person is

You follow someone on Twitter? Have you met her in person?

Can you tell me about how that's different from the entirety of human history up to this point?

I'm still not seeing an argument for chucking single sex spaces out the window. You can't possibly be suggesting that because mistakes are made in a minority of cases we don't bother at all?

Can you give me an example of another law that is applied perfectly in 100% of cases - do we just get rid of all rules and laws?

My older son was often challenged when he got on the bus and asked for a child fare because he was tall. I've sometimes got away with paying less for my younger son because he's short with a babyface. Will we just get rid of fare categories on public transport?

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen thanks for your comment, things like this are invaluable.

I was a WI member for years- and went along to meetings as a teen with my DGM.
The very fact it's women only was a big part of why women joined- we could openly discuss and have speakers on subjects none of us wanted to talk about in front of men - the visits from the community midwife, the chiropodist (very gruesome!) the yoga instructor who suggested moves which could help stress incontinance , the local police woman about domestic violence are some I remember.
Yes, there was flower arrangement, and jam and baking - but free association away from males. We all socialized in the pub or other places, but with our partners so a totally different experience.
Why is this so difficult to understand?

Why are women to be allowed nothing of our own- do they hate (or fear) us that much?

No I've seen her in videos though. Why?
I don't think you can claim you can 'always tell'. I can't. So it doesn't seem a very practical thing to rely on if you're trying to enforce the exclusion

Seeing someone in a video is very different from meeting them in real life and spending even a small amount of time in their presence and witnessing everything that’s been listed on this thread which very clearly shows the differences between men and women.

Out of curiosity - who is she?

I'm not a member but I'd like to know how the WI thinks trans widows can access its meetings if their husbands decide they want to go instead.

There is no safeguarding issue here and how would they even know?
Do you expect them to look in each member's knickers?

Signed

Why would you presume that transwomen would deliberately try to deceive people and ignore the rules?

Most transwomen are as law abiding and respectful of societal rules as anyone else.

I want to sign but can't get past the donation page without donating?