Spreadsheet of local authorities that record sex not gender - let's complete it together!

[DJLippy]

Started this in response to this thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3271841-does-your-local-authority-equality-policy-exclude-sex-as-a-protected-characteristic

We need to contact all local authorities and make sure that they record sex as a protected characteristic and not gender

Someone on Twitter (NorthernJugni) has set up an editable spreadsheet that anyone can add to. She’s added all of the local authorities

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hxZ6n4ovGRtGD2Q85NIrRnpGmMbdgc3XDsezQojxLXg/htmlview

It would be really useful if somebody could help those without much experience in contacting the local council by proving a basic message that they could copy and paste. It would save time and make us sound professional. Anybody feel confident with this?

North Lanks have corrected to sex

Basingstoke and Deane are going to check with the Equality and Human Rights Commission

I have just seen a tweet from Derbyshire County Council who have admitted their error and said they are correcting previously stated 'gender' for 'sex'.

Essex County Council have taken down their protected characteristics page for now, I'm hopeful it's so they can change it to sex.

Not only did they have gender instead of sex but they were missing gender reassignment, civil partnership/marriage and pregnancy and maternity so they had a lot wrong!

LB Havering have an Equal Opportunities Policy template designed for groups and organisations to download and fill in their name which fails to mention sex:

www.havering.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1390/equal_opportunities_policy_templatepdf.pdf

Need to look at schools' Equality & Diversity policies. Many have same error as some LAs, replacing sex with gender.

twitter.com/Womans_Place_UK/status/1007341636056174592

Vale of White Horse (Oxon) - sex and gender reassignment both mentioned separately, as protected characteristics.

Oxfordshire CC, as above.

I'm not sure what my council's official Equalities policy is, but I'm just filling in a form for transport services and it is recording it as follows:

Are you...?
[Tick one box only]
Male
Female
Think of yourself in another way
Prefer not to say

I wonder what trans people tick - as "think of yourself in a different way" is antithetical to the "think like a woman" thing.

I think Sarah Brown (LGBTLibDem) made clear her belief that she is female.

Ok so i have this from a council

"Sex is a biological term that refers to biological differences, chromosomes, hormonal profiles and internal and external sex organs. However it is usually not possible to determine sex until after puberty and sexual maturity. Gender is a social construct and very often people express gender before they have reached sexual maturity and the terms boy and girl are usually used to describe people before they reach sexual maturity. These words describe gender and not sex."

My bold. WTF
suggestions on how to respond or any useful references to the self fucking evident fact that the sex of a child is not usually difficult to fucking assertain

That wording was discussed on the other thread about this. Batshit.

Waddle Don't get involved with the bullshit. The law says sex is a protected characteristic, gender isn't. It doesn't really matter what that persons personal thoughts on the matter are.

Ereshkigal which thread? Thanks

The suggestion seems to be that the protected characteristic of sex only applies to adults

More stuff to write to MP about - happy days!

Waddle what council is this?

This one Waddle:

Does your Local Authority Equality Policy exclude sex as a protected characteristic?
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3271841-does-your-local-authority-equality-policy-exclude-sex-as-a-protected-characteristic

Lewes and Eastbourne Borough Council had Sex (gender). Now just have Sex.
Plus I got this email from the Chair of the Council - WHO IS A LIB DEM!!!!
"Thank you for pointing out this error. I have now been assured by our Lawyer that it has been corrected.
I would be grateful if you would accept our apologies.
With best wishes"

And well done your councillor!

Thank you Ereshkigal

Wirral has sex - well it is the "leisure peninsular"!

Falkirk are compliant and they officially hate me for badgering them incessantly. Sorry Linda from Falkirk council !

Sorry not sorry

CIty of York has sex listed on the EA page, but then pretty much everywhere else has gender. I have emailed them to tell them.
:)

Ooh I already got a reply:

"Dear [My first name],
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I will forward your comments to our Communities and Equalities Team at [email protected] and ask them to review their pages on our website so any inaccuracies can be amended.
Kind regards
Web Admin"

I think it's important to check what info central organisations are sending out to local councils etc, who may just be using wording that's been passed down to them.

For example, The Local Government Association and National Fire Chiefs Council have confused sex and gender too, which could be causing local Fire Services to use the incorrect terms as well:

Fire & Rescue Equality Framework

I've emailed them and my local council who seem very confused about whether to use sex, gender or both.

I can't edit the spreadsheet either.