GRA reform

[Angryresister]

In committee 9/12 apparently. Just looking at the witness statements published, there are many fewer than I would have expected from GC women. I suspect some may not be published by request. Has anyone noticed that their submission is not there? But thank you to those that have been published. I almost choked on some of the others, especially the one wingeing about having to pay for clothes and cosmetic surgery as well as for a certificate...

Just reading the submission from 'Sex Matters' (set up by Maya F). The quotes from women about the vital importance of single-sex provision are really powerful.

The fact that we've been saying this forever and no-one is interested in listening - or even pretending to listen - tells you all you need to know about women's position in the hierarchy.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/18062/pdf/

I’m just reading Dr Ruth Pearce’s submission (GRA2024). I’d get your TRA bingo card out for it. They even mention JKR’s transphobia, citing a Forbes article about it but not actually citing the transphobia in JKR’s essay. They must think we’re stupid. Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

The fact that we've been saying this forever and no-one is interested in listening - or even pretending to listen - tells you all you need to know about women's position in the hierarchy.

It really does.

Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

🧐 hmmm

Truss has announced the government position so even if this committee did listen to both sides it doesn't mean anything will change. At least not for the foreseeable.

I'm reading through the submissions and there's an awful lot of opinion and very little evidence from some. Does the committee still accept opinion as evidence? It's not a consultation after all.

@Deltoids1

I’m just reading Dr Ruth Pearce’s submission (GRA2024). I’d get your TRA bingo card out for it. They even mention JKR’s transphobia, citing a Forbes article about it but not actually citing the transphobia in JKR’s essay. They must think we’re stupid. Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

they may not be stupid but they may be blinded by prejudice against women.

They seemed fairly biased in the oral evidence session and it seems that even intelligent people, once they have designated the opposing view as 'bad', everything related is then dismissed out of hand.

The Chair has not been convinced by any arguments thus far and made her bias very clear in the article she wrote before the evidence giving so I'm not sure what will change her mind. I'm not hopeful about this.

@Deltoids1

I'm reading through the submissions and there's an awful lot of opinion and very little evidence from some. Does the committee still accept opinion as evidence? It's not a consultation after all.

they've accepted one response that was clearly intended for the toilets consultation

The best one iceberg read is from the bus driver. Have you got to that one yet?

Iceberg! 🙈

@Deltoids1

I’m just reading Dr Ruth Pearce’s submission (GRA2024). I’d get your TRA bingo card out for it. They even mention JKR’s transphobia, citing a Forbes article about it but not actually citing the transphobia in JKR’s essay. They must think we’re stupid. Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

Dr Ruth is obviously completely impartial with their evidence...

ruthpearce.net/about/

And yes it pisses me off that the first thing I do is check.....

Dr Ruth is also BFF and former colleague of Sally Hines

Ah! That explains a lot.

I'm reading through the submissions and there's an awful lot of opinion and very little evidence from some. Does the committee still accept opinion as evidence? It's not a consultation after all.

Where do you draw the line? Does every statement within a submission have to be evidenced? Does personal experience or feelings count as evidence?

The problem is, of course, that if they are meant to read everything and then psychologically filter out everything that isn’t evidence based or backed up by evidence, they will read (and likely be influenced by) some of the non-evidential statements.

But I also think opinions matter. I hope they do anyway, because I submitted mine, then realised afterwards that I probably hadn’t backed everything up with evidence and was frustrated because I almost certainly could have done.

There's another 7 pages of submissions been released.

Worth reading Bea Jasper's submission 26th January