Successfully challenged workplace on EA2010

[Boostinthefanjo]

I work in a large public sector institution and saw that their webpage on the Equality Act 2010 listed one of the protected characteristics as 'sex (or gender)'.

I emailed the Equality and Diversity team to ask why they had added the caveat of 'or gender', as this misrepresented the law and was confusing.

Happily got an email back stating that as the page outlines a legal definition, and the word 'gender' is not included in that piece of legislation, they will remove the reference to gender. Hooray!

(This was followed by a few fairly pointed paragraphs about how gender is a synonym for sex, also includes people's gender identity, can't tell someone's sex just from looking at them, trans women are women etc... I imagine my name is on a list somewhere now...)

Very small victories but a victory nonetheless. Sending my thanks to the posters of previous threads on here for the inspiration.

Ooh, well done!

If you want to engage regarding gender being a synonym for sex (and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't!) this glossary from the WHO might be useful:

www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/knowledge/glossary/en/

as it has different definitions for gender and sex. Also, if they are synonymous, why have them both on there?

Well done! !

You can't tell someone's religion, age, marital status, sexuality, race, disability status or whether they're pregnant just from looking at them either, so not sure what point they're trying to make there.....

I'm trying to draft an email to do this too as we recently had a presentation on diversity and inclusion and gender was listed instead of sex as one of the protected characteristics. Sigh.

Good for you OP! Well done

Well done. The law’s the law and words matter.

Well done!

well done you!!! they clearly didn't like it but you're completely right :)

its astonishing isnt it how people have been able to recognise people's biological sex for centuries but these days the simple act of a man putting on a dress apparenttly confuses us so much we cant tell the difference...

Well done

@crunchermuncher

Well done! !

You can't tell someone's religion, age, marital status, sexuality, race, disability status or whether they're pregnant just from looking at them either, so not sure what point they're trying to make there.....

I'm trying to draft an email to do this too as we recently had a presentation on diversity and inclusion and gender was listed instead of sex as one of the protected characteristics. Sigh.

This. Well done op. Weird that they (seem to) think conflating sex and gender is in any way helpful to trans folk.

Wow....the ironic part is that a lot of you on this thread are treating transgender women with the same amount of discrimnation/prejudice that women used to face from men.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people who should know better either don't...or do know, but just don't care.

@Kit19

Explain.

@SodaPerson

Wow....the ironic part is that a lot of you on this thread are treating transgender women with the same amount of discrimnation/prejudice that women used to face from men.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people who should know better either don't...or do know, but just don't care.

How humorous that you, like the ops employer, focus only on ‘transgender women’.

Wow....the ironic part is that a lot of you on this thread are treating transgender women with the same amount of discrimnation/prejudice that women used to face from men.

Oh the irony...

So the law isn’t the law then?

until we've

• barred men from universities because of their sex
• denied them the right to train in certain professions because of their sex
• insisted they cannot participate in certain sports events because of their sex
• insisted that their wife or mother had to co sign mortgage or credit card applications
• hard to bring in legisaltion specifiaclly to ensure men were paid the same and still seen 40 years later that men wre api significantly less
• repeatedly told men to suck my massive lady cock
• been responsible for 98% of sexual assualts

we havent vaguely come close to treating men they way they've treated women. I couldnt gaf what a TW wears, call themselves and how they choose to live their life but they're not women and never will be and so no, they cant have women's spaces

incidentally i note that the cheerleaders only ever turn up on threads like this to tell us off and not on the threads where a TW is simulating labour to go through the experience of a still birth and wondering if someone will lend them a baby so they can breastfeed - funny that
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4037973-Simulated-pregnancy-and-induced-lactation

God, yes, the sheer bigotry of writing letters to HR to ensure the company policies align with equality law. I don't know how these women can look at themselves in the mirror. Asking for an employer to take the protected characteristic of sex as seriously as the other nine? Will the patriarchy never stop in it's relentless push for women to have their appropriate legal status and protection? What next? Parity in pay? Recognition of the burden of care falling predominantly on the female sex? Oppressive bastards!

Who here enjoys indulging sealions? Who here would prefer to spend their time fighting the actual patriarchy or sitting on their arse eating crisps ideally both

Bloody love my scroll wheel

incidentally i note that the cheerleaders only ever turn up on threads like this to tell us off and not on the threads where a TW is simulating labour to go through the experience of a still birth and wondering if someone will lend them a baby so they can breastfeed - funny that

This with bells on!

Soda

The law is the law. Words matter. Employers have a duty under the law to correctly monitor diversity, equality and inclusion. Monitoring gender does not fulfil this duty.

Where is your evidence that transwomen are discriminated against?

Well done Op. Women's rights and feminism, that's what we're upholding.

I saw a letter in the Times from a group of MtF trans people and they were appalled at how all the trust they had built up with women had been thrown to the wolves because of idiots not recognising women's rights

Well done, Boost! Very cheering news, and it's not a small victory but an important one. When a public-sector body has the cheek to misrepresent the law, to the detriment of half the population, it needs to be put right.

I note they took this with a bad grace, so it probably wasn't an innocent mistake. BUT they did make the correction. And I wonder if they would have done so a year or two ago? I'm daring to hope sanity is starting to return.

Wow... Soda, used to face from men? In what strange universe do you live where misogyny, hate and discrimination towards women is just history?
How discriminatory of you not to want equality law respected to support those with protected characteristics'? Big Wow there...

And good work OP. Trans activists hate women working to uphold legal protections and important terminology don't they?

Someone remind Soda that women care assistants were still fighting Glasgow City Council for equal pay in 2019. They should also read all the latest articles in the press detailing how women are being disproportionately affected by the Covid Crisis. Nothing past tense about women's right for equality in 2020.

fight for

My sister couldn’t get the mortgage in her name/ on her salary when she got married (in the 80s!!!!!).