City of London consultation

[ByGrabtharsHammarWhatASaving]

Does anyone know what's going on with this? There was a lot of outrage, talk of a judicial review, Rosa Freeman helping the Jewish community to bring some action around it, Venice doing Man Friday protests - now it's all sort of sunk without trace. Is anyone pushing back against it, or have they got away with it?

Bump

I'm watching this with interest. Before the GRA consultation a group of women emailed various groups that would be affected and many did not receive a single reply.

AFAIK Rosa Freedman's case with the observant jewish women claimants is going ahead. There is no reason at this point to think that it has sunk without trace. It takes time to get the sucks in a row.

That's disappointing, Inebriati, that there were no replies. I wouldn't underestimate how timid many women are about speaking up or getting involved in this issue, even when they stand to lose rights and safety.

I want to see Edward Lord and his cronies at the City of London Corporation held to account over the 19,000 binned insulation responses. How unfortunate that local residents would have to sit face-to-face with Mark Field MP in order to address this attack on women's rights. Not an appealing prospect in light of recent events.

ducks! ducks in a flipping row...

Ah that's good to hear pinch. So many misogynists in positions of power, it's sick.

Bumping in case anyone has any news to add...

Would be great to know how this is going. I live in the City and got mildly outraged with Edward Lord on twitter, he promptly blocked me. I was planning on sending a letter to my MP, but ahem, it's Mark Field FFS...

Nothing to add really. I felt that the actions taken by the City of London will lead to other public bodies bringing gender self-identity in, first slowly but then like a flood, and felt it was really important that action be taken. I feared that we would all be outraged by it, talk about it for a couple of weeks and then move on, which is precisely what has happened.

In my attempts to make a (small) difference I came into contact with people seriously considering legal action, who thought I was personally affected by the City of London decision. I am not but I contacted people on here who said they were affected, to get them to consider getting involved in the legal action. Unfortunately, nothing has come of it. Either no response or a polite ‘No, thanks’. Women could be a real force to be reckoned with but many don’t care enough or think other people will do the dirty work. I know some people are afraid or struggling with life but there is a real whiff of, ‘Can’t be arsed but can debate till the cows come home on t’internet’.

I have emailed several people/firms with specific issues/questions.

A few got back to me with platitudes and have not (or not yet) replied to me going back and pointing out they haven't answered anything I wrote and requesting they do so. (All politely written and signed etc)

Most have completely ignored me, including an organisation very well-known on this website.

What fucks me off most is that they'll huff and puff about their amazing policies but don't have any backbone whatsoever to stand by them when someone asks a civil question.

Edward Lord is a public admirer of a member of the PIE - tweeted out support for him. One of his partners in the push for self ID is the Mayor of Liverpool - who reportedly tipped off a paedophile the night before a police raid.

The men pushing this have an agenda. They won't be stopped until unsavoury facts like ^these are out in the open. Women are comparatively powerless here - people are refusing to see what's going on. The women in government who do have power, like Morduant and Miller, are just going along with it, and merrily calling women with safeguarding concerns 'bigots'.

I don't understand how Edward Lord has the power to do this - I find it staggering that one man on the CoL council can push such a huge agenda that affects women and girl's privacy across the whole of central London. It's like women's rights never happened.

It is important that this is seen as an issue that affects all sorts of women, not just a small religious group, hence me trying to get other women involved.

Who do you think would be eligible to bring legal action, charlestonchaplin? I agree that this is the thin end of the wedge for things like this, but also it sets a scary precedent for future consultations that they can just fudge the data like this. But taking on a legal challenge takes money and time, something lots of women lack.

Just thinking aloud here . . .

There are so many of these things that need legal advice as the first port of call. (Wish I was a lawyer!)

Are there sources of free legal advice that could be turned to in cases like these? (I'm sure there must be!)

Legal bods that would pursue pro bono? (Maybe less likely?)

You know how there is that UK organisation that puts groups of law students on to challenging USA death row convictions? Would there be any virtue in trying to set something like that up for defending UK Women's Rights in cases like this?

Does anyone know if any of the national Women's Rights groups are following up the City of London case? (I realise that if they are that they might be keeping their powder dry and not broadcasting the fact.)

You're right, we need to think long term and find ways to make it properly accessible for ordinary women to challenge violations of their rights. Not just for this issue by in general.

Women don't do it because they know it's really fucking hard to fight this stuff, even when it makes no sense for it to be otherwise than they put forward. Check out en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Enderby - 15 years it took to get a female dominated specialism recognised on equal terms to those of men. 15 years! She's a total legend for that. Yet if one Googles Agenda for Change history you get nothing of her fight.

This stuff takes real ovaries, pots of money and backing of entities with resource. Women have no backing at the moment, apart from each other. Question really is why others do? What had made it so much easier for change to happen so quickly when it seems against all reason?

ByGrabthars, I don’t think what was needed from these women was money. The group are aware that women on Mumsnet are willing to donate to a crowdfunder but they haven’t asked for money, not yet anyway. I think what was needed was the ‘stories’ of diverse women who used to use the pond but now feel unable to. Of course some time will be required and some courage. However no-one even took up the opportunity to speak to the legal counsel to find out what would be involved, and whether it is something they could get involved with.

Look, I know it’s human nature to stay back and let others get on with things, but this is a battle. Our opponents are aggressive and we have to be too or face the wide-ranging consequences of males in our spaces and taking our places, possibly forever.

Look at the GRA in Scotland thread to see the idiocy of how ‘living as a woman’ is defined. Something like showing you use female names on utility bills. That’s it. It’s ridiculous for many reasons but I wonder how they get around the unisex names used in some communities.

It's scandalous the difference between the City of London and Scotland. Both had consultation periods. Scotland thought hmm maybe hold fire and see if we can reach a more equitable agreement. The City, just threw all the replies it didn't like in the bin.

What an odious little man he is