Where do Canadian women go now when they are victims of male abuse or violence, now that there is an actual Get Out of Jail Free Card?
cf UK Stonewall recent report.
Ruth Hunt's introduction:
Ruth Hunt, Stonewall
"Since the Government announced their commitment to reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2004, trans people have faced an onslaught of damaging attacks in the national media and online.
Much of this coverage has focused on particularly emotive issues – whether based on evidence or not. One of these issues
is single-sex spaces for women, including women-only domestic and sexual violence services. Some commentators have
focused on the view that supporting trans women in these services might compromise the integrity of these safe spaces, or that
reforming the GRA would mean violent men could access these spaces more easily.
One thing that has felt stark watching this unfold is that the voices of the professionals delivering these services have largely
been missing from these reports, despite the fact that their services have been made a focus of coverage about GRA reform
and used by some to substantiate their opposition to change.
It’s important that these conversations include people with direct experience of delivering these services. That’s why we’ve
commissioned nfpSynergy to interview representatives of 15 organisations who provide and oversee those services. We
wanted policy makers and the wider public to understand the everyday reality of how they operate. We needed to hear their
voices and find out if and how they support trans women who have experienced domestic and sexual violence.
What follows is a range of views and experiences, directly from service providers. We want their contributions to help move the
conversation towards an evidence-based account of what’s happening in the sector right now, and are extremely grateful to
them for sharing their expertise, and wide range of views and experiences.
What we’ve found is that, contrary to the panicked headlines, organisations across the sector have already been supporting
trans women for some time. This support is vital because, in the past 12 months alone, one in six trans women have
experienced domestic violence. Many providers are taking proactive steps to ensure their services are trans-inclusive, and
services are developing a growing body of best practice in this area.
Some participants in this research recalled instances
where challenges arose, and described how they managed these with sensitivity and common sense to ensure that every
woman in their service felt welcome and safe.
Many organisations told us that reforming the GRA to simplify the process of getting a Gender Recognition Certificate would
have no relevance to how they run their service. Participants overwhelmingly told us that services’ thorough risk assessment
processes would continue to safeguard against an incident of a violent man attempting to access services, while ensuring that
all women receive the support they need.
This report isn’t showcasing one view, or one narrative, about trans inclusion – we wanted to reflect where these service
providers are now. Several participants expressed concern that there are trans survivors who are being let down when seeking
support, with some likening their experiences to the struggles faced by many black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women,
lesbians, bi women and disabled women seeking support. Those participants pointed to the huge progress services have made
in including all survivors, whatever their background or identity, and made clear their determination that the current debate
about trans survivors won’t stop them providing the most effective support they can to them."
www.stonewall.org.uk/supporting-trans-women-domestic-and-sexual-violence-services