Consultation closed! Well done everyone!!

[naivetyisthenewblack]

So, that's it then. Well done everyone, for everything we've achieved in the last year.

My goodness my world has shifted!

At the beginning of 2017, I was a Labour voter, wasn't involved in any active campaigning, my feminism was an identity (no pun intended!) instead of an action. I only read the Guardian, never nasty Tory papers like the Daily Mail / Spectator / The Times. And I assumed most lefty men understood about male violence and supported feminism.

All that has changed.

I've met some fucking awesome women though, falling down this rabbit hole.

This is for all of you fucking awesome women. A five minute pause, at least for and - before we move on to the next phase

Thank you mumsnetters, for opening my eyes to what was actually going on.

RedHoodGirl yes those with identical answers don't have the weight of individually written answers.

They will be taken into consideration as part of the consultation, but more weight will be given to individual submissions.

Which is as it should be, don't you think?

This will be the same for all groups who did this, both GC and trans groups.

They also check for lots of submissions from the same IP address.

don't panic people, I'm trying to get to the bottom of this.

I am slightly different to many on here, in that I wasn't a guardian reader, or traditional lefty type.

I am slightly right of centre, brexit voting, working class, have worked all of my adult life in a male-dominated role & did not think of myself as a 'feminist'.
I was not politically motivated in any way more than voting or expressing my political opinions on fb/in person to friends.

Over the last 12 months I have become massively vocal online & in real life - I have even written to my MP twice. I have also donated what I can afford to the various campaigns (I am now single parent, student, on benefits so it's not a huge amount, just a tenner here & there).

I have, at 43, discovered the ideological hill that I am prepared to die on.
I cannot go back to being quiet on this issue as the scales have been ripped from my eyes now.

I thank all the brilliant, amazing women of MN & beyond who have been a part of my awakening & who have played a part (however big or small) in this grassroots movement.

I will continue to stand up & be counted & will never again be quiet or amenable on the issue of women's rights.

Thank you all 💐💜💚✊

I heard of a Muslim woman who got 1,000 people to do the consultation via her mosque and other networks. As far as I know, they didn't use the one-click consultation link.

I heard of a Muslim woman who got 1,000 people to do the consultation via her mosque and other networks. As far as I know, they didn't use the one-click consultation link.

Oh, that is amazing.
I am really angry at the government's failure to ensure the consultation reached women in religious communities who will be particularly affected.

I heard of a Muslim woman who got 1,000 people to do the consultation via her mosque and other networks. As far as I know, they didn't use the one-click consultation link.

What a woman!

I’m not too worried about the weighting of the different types of submission.

It wasn’t a vote and I think what will count for more, in the long game, is the raising of voice and consciousness at the individual level, the profile of the issue in the media, and the mobilising of a huge network.

Basically, massive win.

Indeed, Hipster.

The consultation responses will have made it abundantly clear that if self id goes ahead it will not be under the radar and will be in the face of very strong public opposition.

I heard of a Muslim woman who got 1,000 people to do the consultation via her mosque and other networks. As far as I know, they didn't use the one-click consultation link.

That's brilliant. I find it horrifying that the people who put the GRA consultation together don't seem to have given a moment's thought to the effect on women who for cultural or religious reasons cannot share intimate spaces with men. If Self ID comes in a lot of Muslim women will be forced to stay within easy reach of home, like Victorian women before public loos.

Agree with prawn.

It was clearly obvious that this consultation was meant to slip under the radar!

Those last minute wanky dress up theme days at school came in handy, it’s a test to prove you can achieve anything even with very limited resources.

It’s really chilly out there today, I could do with something to keep me warm 😉

so what about those of us who could not manage the fill itin yourself consultation due to caring responsibilities, their own disabilites, or conditions or trouble understanding the complex language they used but still know that we do not want men who think they are women in our spaces? Do we not count because we lack the skills, energy or time.

BlackeyedGruesome That is what they hoped for! Just the first few questions alone it showed that it was only written for the intend TRAs cult.

Scary thought that had it not been voice of other women I like many thousands of others would be none wiser until too late. Shit scary!

I didn’t think the consultation form was very user friendly.

The bit where you could save your responses and return to the consultation form later was good. The whole thing was too time consuming for me to do in one (or more) goes, as I was writing reasons for answers rather than just ticking boxes.

But they had no option to pick which page to go to when I went back to the form, so every time I went back to the consultation I had to start at page 1 and click all the way through to where I’d stopped.

And it was so so slow loading the pages last week - I was a bit last minute completing it, I know there were plenty of other people doing it at the last minute in the run up to the original Friday deadline. But, even having filled in all but the last 2 pages, it took nearly an hour to click through from page 1 to the final submit responses page. Which is a ridiculous length of time.

If I hadn’t already spent ages filling in individual responses, it would have been so tempting to just say f* this and go for the one click consultation option.

I don’t think the govt should be allowed to treat email submissions as petition responses. They said they would accept emailed submissions, so they need to stand by the published process. They can group the responses for analysis as the themes will be common, but those respondents took the trouble to fill out the consultation. Smacks of moving the goalposts.

FPFW only put up their one-click thing in the last week. Many of the people using it are unlikely to have filled out the full consultation, especially as the Government website was quite slow as the closing date approached.

My DPs (80+) both filled in the consultation. My DF pointed out that they were unusual in being online at their age. DM really only does email but DF is totally confident, which is unusual for someone of his age.

But he's very unusual. He said that his generation weren't being considered at all. If you aren't online you can't be heard. And of course Self ID could very much affect older people in care homes or having carers at home.

And there's been no publicity. If savvy women hadn't discovered the consultation was taking place then how would any of us have known? The government didn't inform us.

Plus official documents are usually provided in quite a large number of languages. Not here.

DM really only does email but DF is totally confident, which is unusual for someone of his age.

Truth. DM who is her 70's said she was having to think hard of which friends she could even send the FP4W quick link to.

I heard from Nic Williams of Fair Play for Women that they had just over 20,000 responses to their one-click form.
That's incredible seeing as there were 53,000 total consultation responses.

I hope the Labour party are aware of this. We are not a "minority". Not by a long shot.

Gncq are you sure? FPFW did say they'd had 20,000 clicks on the page a few days before the consultation closed. That's not the same as actual responses though.

They got loads, sure, but I'm not sure it was as many as 20K unless you've heard that more recently?

I can confirm that the head of the GRA consultation has confirmed to FPFW that all responses will be counted and each submission has equal value.

Who is the head of the GRA consultation, River?

Well done everyone and thank God for Mumsnet, without which this issue would probably have passed me by.

I had an encouraging response from my MP today: “This is a sensitive area, and I have received trenchant representations from constituents who are deeply concerned about the potential impact upon women, including on safe spaces such as changing rooms. I see the force of those concerns. In fact, I share them.

That's why earlier this month I attended a briefing discussion on this matter with David Davies MP (who you refer to) and several experts in this area to discuss the concerns you have articulated. I do have deep misgivings on several counts - including in particular the proposed right to prescribe life-changing hormone-blocking drugs to children. My instinctive view is that such treatment should only be contemplated in truly exceptional circumstances. Equally, I entirely acknowledge the concerns of those who are worried about (biological) men being granted access to female-only spaces.“

Actually quite unexpected - I thought I’d get something vague and non-committal. So let’s also keep on emailing those who are supposed to represent us!

That's a brilliant response, ThisMadnessMustStop. It must have been quite a letter, and you must have a very reasonable MP, on this issue anyway.

naivetyisthenewblack
They had about 70,000 clicks to view the page.
I have double checked and Nic definitely posted (to a different group) that it was over 20,000 completed submissions via her page.