from today's FT - Jess Phillips

[Eppursimuove]

Phillips was elected as Labour’s member of parliament for Birmingham Yardley in 2015 and, on the backbenches and social media, speaks her mind about issues facing women in the UK. Her outspoken feminism has secured her thousands of friends and foes alike.
Yet strangely silent on TG issues. I wonder why

She hasn't been silent, in fact she was a supporter of weakening the sex based protections in the Equalities Act further in 2016 by replacing gender reassignment with gender identity.

She must have either agreed then that in no circumstances would single sex mean single sex in the EA2010, any male could use any single sex service, at any time no matter what the impact was on women, and think that to be completely acceptable to all women

or

she didn't realise what she was doing.

Bill Presented

Gender Identity (Protected Characteristic)

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Mrs Maria Miller, supported by Jess Phillips, Mrs Flick Drummond and Ben Howlett, presented a Bill to make gender identity a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 in place of gender reassignment and to make associated provision for transgender and other persons; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 24 February, and to be printed (Bill 106).

She’s been appalling on the GRA. Thinks the refuges will still be able to turn away self identified men if they dont seem sincere or some such nonsense. She’s a brave woman in so many respects, I don’t know why she won’t speak up for women on this issue

Link to Hansard (written record of HoC) - see bottom of the page
hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-12-01/debates/38CFE29B-D261-45DF-9C31-0546E3CBC3B8/PointsOfOrder

services.parliament.uk/bills/2016-17/genderidentityprotectedcharacteristic.html

thank you for putting some meat on the bones trousered

"dont seem sincere or some such nonsense"

I would like to hear her explanation of what a sincere gender identity is and how we tell? She must know as she supported a bill to make gender identity more legally important in prisons, refuges, hospitals, schools, than sex. She must know how this all works?

Do tell Jess. Is Karen White sincere and how do we know? The court said White "adopted a transgender persona". That's exactly what you wanted to be protected isn't it, a transgender persona, or does that mean something different?

Do tell, we need to know Jess.

She was on TV at sometime during the week (sorry, can't remember which programme but it was a short piece) and she said that politicians were worried about speaking out because of the abuse they received from TRAs.

It was bbc evening news, thurs or fri I think

I would like to hear her explanation of what a sincere gender identity is

I think the Police, Courts, Social Work, Health Care systems and even parents would like a sincerity detector.

Do you need to pass the sincerity detector test to be able to sue someone, even if you're insincere but the law permits you to do this?

Also in 2016 Phillips said she could "understand" the hostility of some feminists to proposed reforms, although she didn't agree.
I think all the above quotes are also from 2016, except for what misscockerspaniel reported she said this week, so it would be interesting to know if her views have evolved.

I don’t understand how somebody who regularly interacts with victims of domestic abuse and speaks out on violence against women could think it is possible to judge whether somebody is safe because they appear ‘sincere’.

She read out Karen Ingala Smith’s list of women killed by men in parliament, so must be familiar with GC thinking and certainly can’t think that all GC feminists are TERFs.

I have to say I'm disappointed by Jess Phillips. I think it's one thing to sign our rights away if you've never come across any abusive men and would therefore think there's no risk, but she used to work for Refuge. She knows how it all works and still she does it.

Similar points with merry there.

I am also disappointed by her, she is clever, determined, she does seem to really care about women and yet this...she’s worked with victims of domestic violence I think ? So it really surprises me that she doesn’t get the vital importance of single sex space for women and girls.
I wonder what her life experience has been ? Because amongst my friends the ones least likely to see the point of single sex space are the ones lucky enough to have never been genuinely frightened of a man /men.

I don't think she's clever. At all. Just gobby

Maybe I have overestimated her intelligence ! I have been to a talk of hers, in conversation with Jacob Rees Mogg. She was funny and came across well, I felt hopeful that she would be GC, as she seemed sensible and pragmatic. Other than on twitter that is my only experience of her.

But did she interact with survivors? She was a Business Development Manager, that involves promoting services to funding bodies to get money, producing bids and tenders which are full of policy compliance statements like "identify as a woman" and "case by case basis". This job is never going to have to do anything operational in anything like this, not at the front door looking at a case, just in the head office, cutting and pasting policy words into bids.

I’m sure I’ve seen her mention her work with survivors of violence, was it not hands on at all them ?

I looked her up on Wiki. A Business Development Manager is not a front line service delivery job, it's a fund raising job.

www.womensaid.org.uk/about-us/jobs/#oasis
Here's a link to a job vacancy on Womens Aid website for a Head of Business Development.

The successful Head of Business Development will:
• Be confident in strategic analysis, budgeting, planning and evaluation
• Be an excellent communicator able to motivate and inspire and win the trust of all stakeholders
• Be an excellent relationship builder
• Be experienced in managing charity finances and generating new income
• Be confident at delivering a marketing and communications strategy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Phillips

Thanks trousered I think I just assumed and JP lets people assume it was frontline.

I read the article in the FT. I am full of admiration for Jess Phillips.

I work in HR so have to become familiar with role descriptions. BDMs are fund raisers in not for profits and sales people in commercial businesses.

Jess recently launched a project to review the Equality Act. Something that has had very little mention since …..

Quite a few of us from here went along to the launch meeting back in June or July. It was interesting to say the least.

A lawyer was there explaining how the Act is useless if there is no way financially people can legally enforce it ….As we know.

Business are caving into the male access demands because of the aggressive use of legal threats business don't want to defend against especially as keeping males out of female space has now become something we are all supposed to think is the main cause of suicide of middle aged men.

None of it is very joined up is it.....

Thinks the refuges will still be able to turn away self identified men if they dont seem sincere or some such nonsense

If the TRA plans and self-ID go through any refuge trying that will get their arse sued off. Which is one of the reasons we're pushing back.

Maybe try listening to people's concerns before writing them off as bigots, eh, Jess?

I am not criticising Jess here but I've seen the BDM process in action. I worked in Health and Social Care and the bodies providing the funding dictate what the BDMs have to put into the bids and contracts, they have no choice, a point made very clearly by James Morten in Scotland on another thread about the We are still here meeting. They won't get funding if they don't have a self ID policy.

Jess has worked on that side of the service, not the front line.

What I recall from her book and hearing Jess Phillips speak on her experience in working with women's refuges is that they are already fiercely engaged with the practicalities of keeping out people who are determined to get in but aren't wanted. Day-to-day it's much more about who is threatening what violence than niceties of whether or not anyone has a particular certificate — that's way down the list of concerns.

Even so, I am disappointed to see that motion on putting Gender Identity into the Equality act. Although not to replace Sex, but the current Gender Reassignment class.

Given that Jess self-declares as a "gobby feminist", I'm surprised she's not said more lately, whatever her position.