How long does it take to complete the GRA consultation?

[GatheringHerBrows]

I hear it's quite long 😄 - so, are we talking a cup of tea and a biscuit, or an afternoon off work with a pizza delivery?

Has anyone used any of the available guides to help a little?

Tea and a biccy. Can be done in about 15 minutes with guide answers.

Oh good 😅, I was imagining that it would be a mammoth task.

Depends on how long your answers are and how many times you bang on the table and shout "What? WTF does THIS mean?"

Well the first question took me half an hour then I needed a break! It’s very hard not to write reams and reams.

Did mine in thirty mins using fair play guidelines for the main questions. Saved time as it tells you which ones to skip without having to read in detail.

I'm just working on it bit by bit. I think if you spend a bit more time on it and expand upon your answers it's going to be better than the government just receiving lots of almost identical responses based on the FPFW guidance.

It took me about 90 mins with the fpfw crib sheet to hand. I can easily imagine it being much quicker or much slower though, depending on whether you answer all the questions and how carefully you are wording your answers. You can save half-way through and come back to it later.

Recommend looking at the crib sheet - it's very clear to a laywoman unlike many of the questions.

I think it’s important to look at the crib sheets but put it into your own words. I can imagine responses that are too similar to each other being discounted as spam. The WPUK guidelines are useful too as they are shorter than The FPFW ones and you can use them to build your own answer.

It took me about an hour.

Yeah. A good 90 minutes. Used the FairPlay guide and also looked at the WPUK guide. I couldn't have done it without the guides. Being able to save and go back to it made all the difference. Some people have complaints that when you go back to it you have to go through each page until you get back to where you left off. I quite like this. Meant I could edit it a bit as I went along and anyway it's only a case of clicking each page and moving on so it didn't take long.

WPUK guidelines are very succinct, FPFW has a lot more info. both are very good.
I've nearly finished, I'm coming back to it tomorrow. its not as bad as I thought.

There are a couple of questions coming up where I know I want to write a lot more about personal experience.

I always want to do stuff perfectly, I'm just doing my best with it. better to do it imperfectly, than not at all.

If you are short on time, you can just answer, the questions that really matter to you.

I am thinking I must get off my butt and complete the consultation... when does it need to be done by?

19th? October. Took me an hour. Made do with only a couple of rants

I've spent several hours in total, I used FPFW guidelines as one input but I wanted it to be in my own words and personal. I went in a few times but that is time consuming as you have to go through to find where you left off.

But if you don't have much time don't write much more than 'this is a really bad idea what about impact on women and girls' everywhere and submit. Much better to do that than not complete it.

I spent about an hour on it but keep thinking of things I should have said better. So would suggest doing a draft then going back to it before submitting.

Thanks everyone.

I've had a bash at some of it and saved it for now. I'm finding it fairly hard going TBH 😬. It just doesn't feel accessible at all - I can't imagine getting my relatives to fill it in.

Took me several evenings well what's left of the evening once everyone else is in bed and out the way cos I kept getting cross and writing a whole ranty essay in the comments

Some nights I only managed one question in a session

I recommend or possibly to help you through it

But if you can avoid getting as ranty as me and if you just do the most essential questions, yes/no's and brief comments you could get through it a lot faster...

PS I still keep thinking of more things I would like to add (or can't remember if I included) if I hadn't already submitted it!

Oh, does Fair Play For Women only suggest answering 8 of the questions? I quite like the look of their guide actually.

I finished mine today - kept on plugging away at it, I think it took 3 sessions. I wrote reams though - I kept googling for stats and evidence that such a dire thing as I was predicting had already happened somewhere in the world (or in Britain ... Karen White!). I haven't submitted it yet, though - I'm going to check it through first.

I also made sure to mention that removing sex segregated spaces would limit women in the public sphere and therefore limit their spending and be be bad for the economy because ... tory govt - tell 'em what they care about - money.

What did people say at the end about letting the govt contact them? I really don't want them to contact me ... but I'm afraid if I put 'no' then they'll discount my entire submission.

I think I put Yes (though can't remember for sure) - would be quite happy to give them a few more pieces of my mind if I get a chance!

Seriously, it can be done and dusted in

Took me about an hour and I answered all of the questions (apart from those meant only for trans people, and the one for intersex people which is a completely different issue). Had to calm down with a cup of tea afterwards as the questions seemed so badly posed and ridiculously biased.

It took me an hour, and dh an hour and a half. I used the FPFW advice notes and dh didn't, but he asked me about a few things (then spent the next 2 days asking me to clarify a few things in an incredulous tone, followed by "What? And do people know this is happening?". He thinks about 10 people at work will look at this consultation based on him not being able to keep his disbelief about this to himself.

Can someone link to the consultation and guide please?