I want to post clarification on claims made about there being ‘no evidence’ of any issues of male inclusion in what is supposed to be female only support services.
In the now closed web chat by Laura Bates she has included a link to claims that male inclusion in female only support has caused/will not cause any issues, from Scottish women’s orgs. She says:
“I believe that all women deserve dignity and safety, particularly in sexual violence service provision. I think it is important to note, for example, that all women’s frontline sexual and domestic violence services that receive Scottish Government funding have been trans inclusive for over 6 years, and that this has not resulted in a single incident of concern or challenge, according to those organisations. (Source: www.engender.org.uk/news/blog/frequently-asked-questions-womens-equality-and-the-gender-recognition-act/). “
It’s important to understand just how void of evidence the claims made by Scotgov funded women’s orgs are.
The following exert comes from Maggie Mellon’s website https://maggiemellon.online/2019/08/22/no-problem-no-evidence-2/
About Maggie Mellon: “(CQSW, MSc, Dip Child Protection) I am social worker with many years’experience in both Scotland and England. I have been vice chair of the British Association of Social Workers since 2014, and also chairs the Association’s Ethics and Human Rights Committee. Non – executive Director of NHS Health Scotland and is a member of the editorial Board of Scottish Justice Matters, and was formerly Director of Services for Children 1st and Head of Public Policy for NCH Action for Children in Scotland. I was chair of the Scottish Child Law Centre from 2009 -12. I now work independently as a consultant on social work practice and public policy.”
Her work on looking at the claims made by the scotgov funded women’s support sector concludes:
“Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland have in practice got very little experience of providing their services to men who claim to be women. It is not clear from the evidence whether SWA have any experience of providing refuge. They do not say what their experience of service provision to biological men consists of. Is it telephone based? Is it mainly their training or outreach services? If they are training others in the inclusion of men who identify as women and vice versa, what is the evidence base for this, given that they have little or perhaps no experience and certainly no research or evaluation?
While SWA and RCS may not currently ask for birth certificates or Gender Recognition Certificates they do currently have the right to require a GRC, and to refuse a service or employment to anyone without a GRC. Therefore currently, if a man with a beard applied for service or for a job with them, they would be entitled to and would surely ask for a gender recognition certificate or a birth certificate in order to protect the women using services designed for women who are overwhelmingly victims of male violence or abuse.
RCS and SWA are concerned for the rights and dignity of men who claim to be women. But they support legal changes that would force them and the women who use their services to accept men with fully intact male bodies as actual women for the purposes of women-only services.
The government-funded women’s organisations which are supporting the government’s proposals for the legal changes may genuinely believe that there will be no problem for women. However it is clear from the correspondence and from their own submissions to Parliament that they cannot provide the necessary evidence to support their beliefs. Therefore their testimony should not be used in the way that it has been to support the changes. These organisations’ support for the GRA proposals has been used quite wrongly to dismiss the legitimate concerns of self-funded women’s organisations .
These organisation and also LGBTY and Scottish Trans Alliance are almost totally funded by government. To date I have received no response from the Scottish Government on the question of whether they asked for evidence from SWA or Rape Crisis or Engender before using their claims to support the Government GRA proposals “
Engender do not ask women for any views or experiences on their need for female only support services. They cannot speak for women who have self excluded from any services & do not speak for survivors who have been repeatedly ignored & dismissed by the very orgs funded to support them.