Women’s Aid transgender policy - query

[Florabritannica]

I have been appalled by the rise in domestic violence since the beginning of lockdown and want to do something to help. DH is very vulnerable so I can’t do anything that brings me unto contact with people, so it seems the best thing I can do is donate money.
I feel very strongly that women’s refuges should be protected single-sex spaces but have not been able to find any assurance from Women’s Aid that this is their policy.
Wise women of the feminist chat board, can you help me? Where can I donate money so as to do some good for the women currently trapped in terrifying situations? Or is there practical help I can give in the current circumstances?
I’d be incredibly grateful for your observations and advice.

i suggest you write and ask them, expressing what you have just said, that you wish to donate to a genuine woman centred charity
see what they say

Please do write to them and post the reply or the sentiment of the message.

I believe they are TWAM but it's always worth checking and things do change.

Ok I shall write and see what they say. Thank you for the suggestion.

@Florbritannica

Women's Aid is a federation of independent refuges. As such Women's Aid doesn't set policy. Each refuge sets their own policy.

This means you will have to write to each of the refuges listed on the Women's Aid directory.

Personally I think it would be brilliant if you had the time to do this, and find out whether if they do accept trans women whether it was a Management Committee, pressure from funders or from staff.

You can find the list of refuges here www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-abuse-directory/

If interested you can look at the list of vacancies for women's refuges you will see most list that the post is exempt under the Equality Act. Which the government has clarified as being the right of women to provide and receive services only from biological women.

For instance www.womensaid.org.uk/jobs/

And www.womensgrid.org.uk/?cat=142

I think Women's Aid Scotland has made a public statement about including trans women, as has Rape Crisis Scotland.

(I think some refuges provide services to men but am not sure whether this is as separate services for men and women.)

Thank you, @stumbledin. This helps to clarify.
Just to confirm - when advertised posts talk about exemption under the Equality Act, does that mean they would consider applicants with a Gender Reassignment Certificate but not those who self-identifies as female?
There do indeed seem to be a great deal of refuges falling under the Women’s Aid umbrella. I have contacted those local to me and asked for their policy.

Hi Florabritannica - I think that is the worry. The EA is there to protect women only services, as in biological women. However as we know the trans agenda has been flourishing and creeping out of universities and the media over 20 years. So I suspect there are groups were volunteers and employees and management committee could all have gone through the over the rainbow brainwashing and without pausing for a moment think that the provision for women only services includes trans women because as we all know TWAW!!!

In fact maybe that is one thing that Women's Aid (its full title is actually Women's Aid Federation England - WAFE) could do is circulate the information as to what the EA means. I am sure it came up at a WPUK meeting that they should get legal advice to once and for all get this confirmed as fact. And that if they didn't maybe a fundraiser so that another group could get the legal advice. But I think since then which of the many Tory MPs who have briefly been women's and equalities minister did confirm that that is what the act (as it currently stands) means.

I am sure somewhere on a thread on mumsnet someon will have posted the link.

We really need a mumsnet indexing system. There's so much info here but not always easy to find when you want it!

Thank you for this very helpful information.
On another note - I was recently asked to vote for the Women’s Rep in a union that regards gender-critical discussion as hate speech. It was striking to note how the candidates’ platforms all focused on issues which relate to female biology - breastfeeding, menopause, pregnancy etc. Couldn’t quite see why the union was allowing them to say that these were women’s issues when, as any fule kno, transmen do all these things too.

If you do find refuges with the desired policy, great but please don't list them on here - it would be setting them up to be targetted by the TRAs who monitor FWR.

Thanks for doing this! DV shelters should be single-sex, and there should be shelters for males too because they can also be victims of DV. How anyone can think it's wrong to want women's DV shelters to cater to females only is really beyond me. I would be interested to find out where you think transitioned FtM (trans men) belong in this. They may fully look like males (apart from the genitals) so they might be seen as other men by women in a DV shelter. Where should trans men go? Maybe shelters specifically for trans people would be good, but I would honestly be afraid for the females there when males are also using it.

A representative of Women's Aid gave evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee a year ago and was absolutely dreadful. Had a terrible habit of sniggering and could not answer an increasingly exasperated Sarah Champion who wanted to know why WA had failed to provide guidance on the single sex exemptions to their members almost ten years after the Equality Act had been passed.

You can watch the session here.

Karen Ingala Smith was on the same panel and was brilliant. Put the WA representative to shame.

parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/0d07ff13-636e-4b51-a946-2877e583dc4c

Skip to 11:07:40 to hear WA rep being questioned by Champion. Brutal.

This is what the Women's Aid web site says (ie not being clear enough about the word woman)

What we believe

Everyone has the human right to live in safety and free from violence and abuse. Society has a duty to recognise and defend this right.

Women are the overwhelming majority of victims of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is a violation of women and their children’s human rights. It is the result of an abuse of power and control, and is rooted in the historical status and inequality of women in in society.

We aim to:

• Empower women who have been affected by domestic abuse to live independent lives free from fear and abuse
• Keep the voice of the survivor at the heart of everything we do
• Meet the needs of women and children affected by domestic abuse
• Provide services run by women that are based on listening to survivors and responding to what they define as their needs
• Challenge and highlight the disadvantages which result from domestic abuse
• Support and reflect diversity and promote equality of opportunity
• Promote cohesive inter-agency responses to domestic abuse and develop partnerships to work towards a society in which domestic abuse is no longer tolerated

www.womensaid.org.uk/what-we-believe/

I wonder whether this sitting on the fence position is why they still haven't appointed a new CEO.

This explanation from Citizen's Advice uses the example of women's refuges as the basis on which sex can be the basis on which a service in offered.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/discrimination-in-the-provision-of-goods-and-services/discrimination-in-the-provision-of-goods-and-services1/goods-and-services-what-are-the-different-types-of-discrimination/what-doesn-t-count-as-unlawful-discrimination-in-goods-and-services/single-sex-and-separate-services-for-men-and-women-when-discrimination-is-allowed/]]

It was reading that that made me post on here.Btw - ‘different ways of being a woman’ - words fail me.

I listened to all that howonearth and I just want to ask, as per your username, how on earth did we get here? Unbelievable.

Update - a local women’s refuge has told me I need to make a formal information request to the CEO, which I have done.

The ideal solution in this situation would be for all refuges to be self contained. I can't be the only woman who fears sharing with anyone. Women may not be responsible for the majority of DV killings but they can be bullies. Other women can be almost as scary to those of us who've been through abuse. It obviously costs more and refuges are already underfunded so I don't suppose it will happen. Maybe transpeople might like the idea too though. It solves a lot the concerns all sides have. No-one would need to feel unsafe. Thank you so much for caring Florabritannica and wanting to help.

Florabritannica - I know I was the one who said you would need to contact each refuge, but have to say given everything that refuges are going through with the virus lockdown (some same DV cases have doubled) now might not be the best time to be asking questions. Also as they dont know (or have you stated your position) they maybe a refuge with a women only policy and practice, but are terrified of being "outed" by trans activists.

plantlife - I think some women benefit from having a shared experience and get support from other women in the same situation as themselves, as much as from a professional support worked.

re. self contained units, some refuges having been campaigning for hotels to be taken over to provide bed spaces exactly because it would mean self contained spaces (for social distancing) and nothing has happened. And then it was in the papers yesterday that a hotel chain had offered to do this to the Government - and got no reply!

Which is really strange as local councils have come to arrangements with hotels to get rough sleepers off the street and because they thought hostel situation would be a health hazard are using hotels. Not sure if they get a block booking discount, but if they can do it for rough sleepers why cant they do it for victims of domestic violence who need a safe secure place?

I'd like to donate too but would want to know their policies. My domestic abuse worker believes that TWAW which baffles me. How can someone help women if they believe men can be women?

Could you donate to Nia ?
niaendingviolence.org.uk/

That's a great suggestion, sirvix (and great username). I saw Karen Ingala Smith on the Women and Equalities Committee video which stumbledin linked to and was very impressed.
I take the point about refuges having enough on their plate at the moment, and I wondered whether I should donate anyway. nia seems an excellent solution to the problem.

By everyone suggesting nia you are only supporting women in a small area of London - which is great for them, but doesn't address the underfunding of women's refuges.

Women's refuges could have done with support over 10 years ago to help them withstand the start of trans infiltration.

I was trying to suggest it would be more productive for women on mumsnet to actively engage with their local women's refuge. they probably need the money more than nia does.

By not engaging with local services and actively supporting them in fact you are pushing them further into the system, which as we know is being influenced by trans politics.

Aargh. I do want to engage with my local refuge, a lot, but I don’t want to support a refuge that believes TWAW. And if they won’t tell me what they believe, or rather what their policy is, what am I supposed to do? Or should I take a pragmatic view that supporting my local refuge will help survivors of domestic violence whatever the policy? But what kind of help is it if a line isn’t taken about what women actually are?
Oh dear oh dear.