Another Consultation- from WEC (somewhat biased against women) Possibly Targeting Liz Truss

[gardenbird48]

I have just seen a new call for evidence launched by the Women’s Equality Committee (who were so rude to Profs Kathleen Stock, Rosa Freedman and Alice Sullivan during the GRA evidence session and the chair wrote an anti women’s rights article beforehand).

This consultation has a surprisingly short timescale for responses - 3 weeks (I wonder if any lobby groups have already had a heads up??).

It appears to be looking at how well the GEO has ‘embedded equalities throughout’ but slightly concerningly they also talk about whether the the Women and Equalities Minister role should not be held as a dual role (ie Liz has two main roles).

There is a risk that they may use this to argue that the WE Minister role should be dedicated and taken by one person. Liz wouldn’t want to drop her International Trade Sec role (as it is more senior I think?) so would drop Women & Equalities and we get Crispin Blunt (or Sue Pascoe former MFH) in there.

committees.parliament.uk/committee/328/women-and-equalities-committee/news/138432/how-can-we-put-equalities-at-the-heart-of-government/

Not for the first time I have been reminded of history lessons on Edward I. He took over Wales, not through fighting and winning, but by setting up an alternative power base and making himself available for landowners to go to him for arbitration of disputes. Then he went in.

One positive to come out of this - we get nuggets like this - I love learning stuff about historical politics.

And that is an excellent point pp re the senior minister position being so important. It is quite astounding how far they will go - obviously quite a lot (of money) at stake?

We will be given our very own 'Prince of Wales' lol

Eek. Very sobering thought.

I ❤️ Mumsnet (when I’m not being censored) thanks Melroses

I don't know why I remember that - maybe because it was such an eyeopener at the time.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Sue was also being promoted by the 50:50 campaign encouraging people to vote for ‘women’.

Idiots.

It's embarrassing and completely counter to their aims.

This has been on the cards for quite a while.

www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/government-equalities-office-set-to-move-again

The constant tinkering with the brief hasn't helped.

Does anyone remember what the old department was called that was specifically about women's rights? Part of the problem was when women's rights were just lumped in with equalities.

ie there used to be a Women's Minister. ie they focused on women's rights.

They actually used to send out a very good newsletter that looked both at Government departments and developments in what is now known as the Women's Sector.

ie if you look at the brief the current committee looks at women and lesbian and gay issues, which is how gender and trans have got dragged in.

If it is "equalities" why not other areas of discrimination such as race, or age.

In other words women's discrimination needs its own stand alone remit, and we should go back to having a Minister for Women with its own department.

Unless and until that happens, women's issues will continue to be pushed off the table or presented as somehow obstructing the rainbow coalition that has erased Lesbian and Gay Rights.

(All I can find about the changes to the status of women's rights as an issue is the table at the end of this page publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/356/35604.htm

I am going to mention their rudeness and point out that their bias is obvious and offensive and it is ironic therefore, that they call themselves anything to do with equality. Harrumph!!

stumbledin I think it was Women's Equality Unit.

If it is "equalities" why not other areas of discrimination such as race, or age.

That's exactly what they are doing. The Disability and Racial Disparity units are already part of the new "hub" with Equalities Office.

Does anyone remember what the old department was called that was specifically about women's rights? Part of the problem was when women's rights were just lumped in with equalities.

The Minister for Women position was brought in under Tony Blair and first held by Harriet Harman. Remember all the "Harriet Harperson" hilarity

Pretty sure equalities was added later

It's been amply demonstrated what happens when you:

• Hoover up all equalities into one brief

• Have one of those briefs with far more funding than all the other briefs put together, including direct government funding, which has been allowed to capture and mess with government duty of impartiality

• A direct agenda to create a hierarchy that subordinates all other equalities beneath that very well funded, powerful brief. Already we see those other briefs are only relevant to this brief if the person with another brief is also a member of this top of the hierarchy brief

• A direct agenda to obliterate one of those equality briefs altogether in its own interests

In short its game set and match on ending equality by taking it over.

The only way now for controlling this - until govt wakes up, grows a backbone and sorts out the mess it's allowed to happen with all this - is to keep the brief split so one person has one agenda and one focus that has not been allowed to become entangled with and dominated by the interests of another more powerful group.

And absolutely now the office looking at equality of women should be entirely separate from the office with the LGBT+ brief, since its beyond the point now of trying to argue the two can run happily together.

Great post Michelle.
It's a classic example of how men with power and influence react when women say no to them.

@ArabellaScott

we get Crispin Blunt

Gaaargh. Certainly, the WEC is pro self ID, they made that pretty clear in their recent consultation, that was effectively an attack on the expert witness they'd called for the gc viewpoint. Shocking behaviour, frankly, very rude and unprofessional.

They will be sure to go for Liz Truss.

Can we raise questions about the WEC's role?

I think I had a look to see if one could complain/comment on a joint committee and got a bit lost on the parliament website. Maybe someone who understands it all better could advise?

The Liaison Committee has a general role in overseeing the work of Select Committees. 'It considers the overall work of select committees, promotes effective scrutiny of Government and chooses committee reports for debates.' It's chaired by Bernard Jenkin and its membership is the Chairs of the Commons Select Committees so guess who's on it!

Its role and powers are set out in a standing order and include:

'•Considering general matters relating to the work of select committees – agreeing guidelines and core tasks for committees and promoting effective scrutiny '

committees.parliament.uk/committee/103/liaison-committee-commons/role/

What is with this consultation carpet bombing?

You could be very cynical and wonder if the aim is to get everyone so tired and fucked off that only paid agencies end up with the time to keep filling all this in and endlessly repeating themselves.

Great points Michelle. Women have lost out by merging the briefs. You do have to wonder if it's deliberate tactic to overwhelm.

The Disability and Racial Disparity units are already part of the new "hub" with Equalities Office

I didn't realise that. I was going on the remit posted by the Government which only mentioned women, gender and LGBTQI+.

And quite honestly along with Women having a Minister I would have though BME people should have their own minister as well.

And whilst I think scrutiny of Ministers by Committees is good, dont see how this can be done properly if one committee is overseeing all these differenct areas of discrimination even if on occassions they do overlap.

@MichelleofzeResistance

What is with this consultation carpet bombing?

You could be very cynical and wonder if the aim is to get everyone so tired and fucked off that only paid agencies end up with the time to keep filling all this in and endlessly repeating themselves.

It's working, tbh. Especially given covid pressures

And whilst I think scrutiny of Ministers by Committees is good, dont see how this can be done properly if one committee is overseeing all these differenct areas of discrimination even if on occassions they do overlap.

Quite. Better to have one person with one protected characteristic as their focus, their interest, their information, to look at the impact and inclusion of that characteristic in all things. There will be some intersection, but with two different people and two different briefs they can sort out between themselves where interests coincide or conflict.

Bashing it all into one bunch has been tried, and really just demonstrates how low an interest it really is. Until you get a loud, politically powerful lobby group with a particular interest in one bit of it.

Can we get someone to write about this? Would be a good subject for James Kirkup or Janice Turner. I'm a twitter pariah so can no longer tweet or message them.

it has been highlighted on twitter as a call to arms - let's get the word out that there's not much time to fill in the consultation!

twitter.com/OnlyObjectivity/status/1352213086208471040

[quote gardenbird48]it has been highlighted on twitter as a call to arms - let's get the word out that there's not much time to fill in the consultation!

twitter.com/OnlyObjectivity/status/1352213086208471040[/quote]
Any suggestions for how to approach it? What are everyone's thoughts?

How can we put equalities at the heart of Government?

You could set a good example, stop moving the goalposts, stop 'getting ahead of the law' and you can stop forcing individuals to fundraise to uphold their legal rights. HTH.

Doing it

[quote gardenbird48]it has been highlighted on twitter as a call to arms - let's get the word out that there's not much time to fill in the consultation!

twitter.com/OnlyObjectivity/status/1352213086208471040[/quote]
Does Maya Forstater know about it? She's usually shit hot with stuff like this, but I've skimmed her Twitter and can't see anything? She has 30k followers so could hopefully reach a lot of people...