Women's Place meeting In Bath - 1st Nov

[ContessaGoesMarchingDOWNTOHELL]

Hello there chaps anyone planning to attend? I am! It's a bit of a drive but couldn't resist it....

Hope to see some of you there!

Wish I was there, been to two so far. (I saw DocStock who was brilliant!) actually it is unfair to single out one speaker because all the women on the panel were great, but I might have to start a fan club for the Doc

Just starting :) follow on Twitter, kids!

Good talk from Sarah Ditum, even through the twitter filter.

Question: If you wrote a wish list, what would you like to see? @sarahditum: "We have to get to back channels, lobbying, inside organisations. Feminists need to be in the room, we need to be school governors etc. If you don't believe in sex, you can't fight sexism."

"So much has happened without the GRA being changed that still needs to be worked out. Regardless of the outcome, the work remains the same."

"Councils matter. Become a councillor. You can do so much. You can keep the toilets open! You would be surprised how few people want to be a councillor. It's a great way to change women's lives on the ground."
"In lieu of being able to go back in time and change stuff, we have to be the actual best. We can't make mistakes. We have to be the most persuasive. We have to talk about balancing rights of trans people with women."

Have a good night! I've been to 3 events now - am always star struck! So many wonderful women!!

Professor Clara Greed
"My background has been in town planning, women and planning issues, planning for inclusion and disability. I've been battling for years about toilets as toilets are very important for women to go about their lives."
"A colleague coined the phrase a bladder's leash - you can't go too far if you don't know where the next toilet is going to be. People plan their routes about where the next toilet is going to be."
"We've lost about 40% of toilets in the last few years, and those women's toilets that have survived are being converted into gender neutral. Women are losing floor space and toilets."
"This is a human rights issue and an equality issue and nobody is taking a blind bit of interest. I've done a lot of research into toilet provision and have spoken to a number of authorities on this."
"It's not just public toilets but toilets in work places, cinemas, shops, factories... everywhere. For years, men had more provision than women and this was seen as normal as women were meant to stay home.""To my horror, this crept up on me, we've got nowhere with getting more provision for women. Nobody has taken any notice. Suddenly heaven and earth is being moved to accommodate what is only 1% of the population."
"There is no solid research. We've spent years interviewing hundreds of people on their toilet needs and are ignored in favour of trans people. We're called transphobic for pointing this out."
"Making toilets gender neutral is already letting in any man who wants to use the ladies' toilets. It's already gone beyond the trans thing. Authorities are using this as a way to cut costs. They don't have a clue about women's toilets."
"People seem to think by making all toilets gender neutral they're solving the problem but they're making it worse. Women can't use urinals, they can't use men's toilets. But men can use women's toilets."
"The thing that really gets me is the ignorance in people who say this is due to architectural design. They have no idea about numbers, there is no quantative statistical research into provision of who needs what. It is very self centred."
"Toilets are contested spaces. Elderly, young, disabled, parents, are all sharing toilet spaces with people they don't want to. And now they're sharing them with men. Women are already wary of public toilets and now it is worse"
"Gender neutral toilet seems to be the latest phrase. If you're told the GNTs are downstairs you might think you're being offered a G and T! Don't get confused!"
"I often get the comment from silly men on Twitter that there is no problem with gender neutral toilets as we share toilets at home. But we don't have cubicles at home and we don't share them with strangers!"
"Women get very embarrassed in toilets, and some men get piss shy, in a shared space. If you go into a toilet, for women it's not just a matter of the cubicle there's the wash space, the queue etc."
"Women are concerned about using the wash basins and queuing if there are men hanging around. A lot of women are concerned when they are menstruating if they share toilets with men."
"Women are concerned about using the wash basins and queuing if there are men hanging around. A lot of women are concerned when they are menstruating if they share toilets with men."
"If women have an accident and need to wash their knickers out due to menstrual blood, or need to rinse a mooncup, they can't use the wash basin in front of men."
"Some women have suggested the solution to this is to daub the walls in menstrual blood but I'm not sure that's the answer!"
"Making disabled toilets into toilets for everyone is a huge issue as it means they need to join the queue with everyone else and that's not practical for them."
"We need to reclaim our toilets!" Huge applause and whoops for Prof Clara Greed, a fantastic and energised speaker

Q - What do you see happening in planning if they stop reporting sex? Clara "It's already happening. There are so many angles. I got into toilets because, unlike prisons or hospitals, toilets are something everyone has to use."

There are a lot of new things going on here. The more you talk about diversity and inclusion, it's like mixing up too many paints & you lose the definition of biology. In terms of the stats, it blurs things. It may give the impression things are better than they are."

Amazing - thank you Melamin!

Thank you melanin!

Fwiw either today or yesterday something on bbc 1 or 2 was asking "do we need more public toilets" and I don't think it was anything to do with trans.

MelaMin sorry!

twitter.com/Kim_C_Cooper/status/994982491789447168

I haven't managed to keep up with all the Q&As!!!!!! Fascinating subject.

Jane is doing a brilliant job on twitter twitter.com/Bristol_Jane

"You need to write to your MP< the secretary of state, your local authority. You need a legal authority, as this is a legal matter. If nobody protests it they will go ahead as they think they are being inclusive."

He’s asleep. Thank you for your patience!

(No, I can’t type baby.)

Just popped back to say brilliant live tweeting also from Jane.

mobile.twitter.com/Bristol_Jane

Sorry Melanie didn’t see you had already posted about Jane. :))

Sorry - got called away and now I am too far behind.

Jane is a great tweeter. If you are on a PC, use my link upthread, as the mobile one above is difficult to follow on the PC. (and probably vice versa if you are on a phone . Click on 'latest'

All in all, this looks like a great meeting. I hope they get the films and write ups out asap.

Rosaria looks to be a great speaker too "Patriarchy is like an elastic band. You have to always pull with your arms and legs to make sure women's rights are protected. You need to have a feminist in all the meetings speaking up for women and girls."

Theone don't worry, surely we are all able to cope with a (very brief) bit of baby chirping!

Sounds like Sarah was good too.

Mentioned the merchandising - I need to go to one and get myself an umbrella...…………..

Sorry - have to add this tweet about lavatories!

Clara Greed, "A lot of this is history repeating. In the suffrage movement, there was a Ladies' Lavatory Association linked to the suffrage movement & it was seen as a basic right linked to the vote. Every time you think you've got somewhere, men plotting to disrupt."

Where are the brollies? Can't see any on their website.

They were mentioned in a tweet - I think you may have to go to the meeting to get one as I can't see anything on the website.

They had a wonderful picture of Suffragettes all holding umbrellas on the tweets about this meeting.

In the e-mails: The efforts they go to to restrict the rights of trans women is entirely at odds to the protection of
rights that we seek to achieve for everyone across our city.

They're making this up surely . I have followed every meeting so far and I haven't seen anyone calling for restricting anyone's rights and certainly not going to 'efforts' either.

I have seen plenty of rubbish from the trans supporters though.

Oh bum, wrong thread