There was a groundswell of anger to be built upon & it's being squandered.
I am as frustrated as a few other posters about the fact that this campaign lacks teeth. I think there might have been an argument for boycotting, or (as an example) all women registrering their sex as female and gender identity as male.
But the reality is that the extreme and obviously deliberate lateness of their announcement (remember, it was falsely reported in the Times a few weeks earlier that sex was to be recorded correctly - presumably also a false leak) has meant that there has been very little time for discussion.
More time would have allowed for the thrashing out of various possibilities, the potential effects, and an estimation of potential numbers of women willing to take part.
For example, if only a few women boycotted, then prosecution and fines are more likely to be chased up. Had we known 100,000 women were willing to take part, then there would have been safety in numbers.
As another possible example, it was suggested women should register as men. It was pointed out that this would skew the figures and thus potentially affect women’s funding. Given time, we could have assessed whether enough women were willing to go ahead so as to skew the figures so far that it would be obvious they were inaccurate and therefore must be recounted or abandoned.
The idea of recording sex as female and gender identity as male didn’t come up, as far as I know. It might have been a better way to make it obvious the figures were skewed, but again discussion of potential impacts was necessary.
We have been left with no time to plan and it is perfectly obvious that was deliberate. It would be interesting to know whether FOI requests might be possible to reveal just how deliberate it was. From the outside it looks very coordinated indeed.
Anyway, frustrating as it is, mass letter writing campaigns have had an impact before, I understand, as if they are large enough, they make an impression that is hard to ignore entirely.
Ordering a paper copy is hopefully an inconvenience to them, though as paper has been routine until this census, they likely have good provision for it this time (might have had more impact had online been the standard for years).
I don’t think there’s any point in criticism of the women’s groups who have had to throw together last minute campaigns that are bland enough to ensure everyone will feel able to carry out the actions. They are doing the best they can with the resources they have.
All anger should be directed at the ONS. They are the ones who have shafted women with a deliberacy that ought to concern anyone sane. We don’t have to sort this out before the census. They will still be there afterwards and if we can find out what they did, then a stink can still be created, even if the census itself cannot be undone.