New CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis

[TheFleegleHasLanded]

I struggled to even come up with a title for this thread as I am so enraged I know I will get deleted and even banned if I say what I really think.

twitter.com/EdinRapeCrisis/status/1389112490215288832?s=20

[NecessaryScene1]

Mridul Wadhwa has been working within the women's shelter system for years. She is eminently experienced and completely suitable for the post.

Except for being male. What is the grounds for preventing other males from applying? Why is this male more suitable?

[mollythemeerkat]

You beat me to it @NecessaryScene1 - funny how this person is flying high with all the right connections - seems thats a bit easier when you are male!

[Fernlake]

@AbsintheFriends

First comment on that thread is enthusiastic congratulations and an endorsement of the comment about 'improving the lives of women' from a beardy 'they/them/he/him.' Says it all really.

I just quickly skimmed the top 10 congratulations. Looks very political to me.

[transsloth]

Mridul Wadhwa has been working within the women's shelter system for years.

Can you see no issue with a male person taking roles specifically for women? In what possible way can this be of benefit to women?

[Kit19]

it's nothing to do with how experienced MW is or how long they've been working in the system

they were born male; jobs reserved for women under the Equality Act should be for people born women only. A woman will have missed out in all the times MW took a job meant for women

MW has been part of the movement to role back refuges as being safe spaces for adult human females to include anyone who says they are a woman. We have had women who use refuges on here say that when they raised their unhappiness about TW in their services, they were scolded for not being inclusive and their concerns handwaved away

if MW wanted to campaign for and run specialist refuges and DV services for TW id be with them all the way but they dont. They want women's spaces.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

@NecessaryScene1

I don't suppose there's any easy way to measure the number of women who start considering going to a refuge or centre and back out at an early stage when they see or hear that there are male people there.

Well, they'd be transphobes. If they ever caught any of them they'd be putting them in as case studies of the sort of thing their staff had to deal with. (Like that NHS case, I think it was.)

Clare Dimyon. www.brightonandhovenews.org/2019/12/09/hospital-apologises-to-rape-victim-for-branding-her-request-for-same-sex-breast-screening-medic-as-transphobic/

[BernardBlackMissesLangCleg]

Mridul Wadhwa has been working within the women's shelter system for years. She is eminently experienced and completely suitable for the post

Wadhwa is a male, so completely unstable for this role.

Many women will self exclude from accessing the service because of their presence

[ladygindiva]

As a rape survivor ( decades ago, I'm OK now) this disheartens me. As a, raped teenager I could never have disclosed or accepted help from any other than a woman. An actual woman. My fear and trauma was real. And penis based, to be frank. Why don't they get this?

[BuffysBigSister]

@ODFOx

Oh come on!

Mridul Wadhwa has been working within the women's shelter system for years. She is eminently experienced and completely suitable for the post.

This isn't a case of trans tokenism causing disadvantage for women. This is someone with all the correct qualifications and experience getting a job they can do well.

But the job spec says the EA2010 exemptions apply so the successful candidate should be female. My understanding is the successful candidate is not. If I were an unsuccessful female candidate I might be wondering how legal/fair that process was. Or if I were an everyday man who didn't apply because of the exemption I might be thinking I had been unfairly excluded. What's the point of the EA2010 exemptions if they are not applied correctly. And if you are willing to make an exception here, are you willing to male exceptions in other cases?

[PlanDeRaccordement]

@SuperLoudPoppingAction

That kind of points to a huge issue with the women's sector more generally tbh. An absolute horror of 'professionalisation'. So it's also likely that support workers don't have to have a qualification in eg counselling/mentoring etc.

Yes, I find that as shocking as MW being born male tbh. To be a CEO of a large charity like that you should have some skills in managing a business, financial management as well as some technical experience in what the charity does- either a degree of qualification in counselling/psychology of trauma. Something! Being a passionate activist doesn’t make you fit to be a CEO or even to actually help women victims of sexual violence.

[R0wantrees]

Only women need apply for the above posts under Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

I can't be misunderstanding this, can I? That means 'We only want women to apply'. I suppose it all hinges on what they believe the word 'woman' to mean (as usual).

Presumably Edinburgh Rape Crisis are exposed to a risk of discrimination claim against them from men (who do not identify as trans) as they interviewed and appointed a male applicant who does not have a GRC.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

MW was also put on an SNP all-women's shortlist last year (as mentioned in the Wings over Scotland piece I linked to above). Not selected as candidate, but did become Women's Officer for an SNP branch in Edinburgh, apparently.

[Twistiesandshout]

This is appalling. I am disgusted.

[toffeebutterpopcorn]

To ignore/dismiss/attack women who specifically state that they are scared to use a facility where male bodied people are shows that they are not fit for the job surely?

‘Tough shit’ isn’t the usual response to ‘I feel scared’. She is a lack of empathy and understanding and only a sense of self.

[terryleather]

Centering MW and any qualifications they might have is ridiculous when the first and most important people to focus on here are the service users, the vulnerable and traumatised women and girls.

Including MW in this situation will make this service mixed sex and immediately exclude many female service users and is therefore unacceptable, but of course that doesn't matter to those pushing their luxury beliefs and genderist bs onto all and sundry against their will.

Once again, the service users are the people who need to be centred here, not MW or those who facilitate this ideology.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I'm really hoping some employment law bods will comment on this. Surely you can't advertise a women only permission and then hire a male? Surely that is discriminating against other men who didn't have the balls to apply?

[Fernlake]

As far as I'm aware, this person did not originally disclose that they were male.

Are the victims of rape now told the sex of this person?

And does it mean a female victim of rape would have been talking to them under the impression that they were female?

Because if so, how is that remotely acceptable?

[WarriorN]

@ODFOx

Oh come on!

Mridul Wadhwa has been working within the women's shelter system for years. She is eminently experienced and completely suitable for the post.

This isn't a case of trans tokenism causing disadvantage for women. This is someone with all the correct qualifications and experience getting a job they can do well.

And that's fine if they're the best person for the job.

Except the job description says they only want women under the EA.

So that's gaslighting all actual women by saying, from the top, that the ceo will lie to them.

[toffeebutterpopcorn]

Didn’t they fib into get their initial job in the U.K.? Now when I worked in the city, anyone who wasn’t truthful on their CV got the sack.

[StillFemale]

Why advertise for women and quote relevant section of the Equality Act if you’re going to recruit a male

Glad I don’t live in Scotland

[toffeebutterpopcorn]

Because - Scotland... always a bit sexist, but morphed into positively women hating.