Stonewall out of Welsh Government #stonewall #welshgovernment

[MerchedCymru]

More and more organisations in the UK are waking up to the fact that Stonewall appear not be acting in good faith in the guidance and advice it gives to members of its 'Champions' scheme.

We have been concerned for some time that the Welsh Government's uncritical acceptance of Stonewall's take on Equality laws in the UK will affect womens rights in Wales.

On Tuesday Merched Cymru wrote to Welsh Government to request formally that it ends its membership of the Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme and the related Workplace Equality Index amid concerns that the advice it provides is misleading and potentially unlawful.

We are asking our members (and anyone who is as outraged and concerned as we are) to contact their Senedd member, send them this information and ask what are they doing to support and protect womens rights in Wales, then tweet, share and get this out there!

Read our report here merchedcymru.wales/2021/06/09/merched-cymru-stonewall-wales/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MerchedCymru
Twitter: @MerchedCymru
email: [email protected]

I see Cymdeithas are supporting StonewallCymru and insisting that TWAW.

Thanks for this action MC - I've sent the link to my SM and MP and am spreading the word.

I'm incandescent about this TBH. Almost £160k spent on Stonewall each year by Welsh Government. They are paying an unelected lobby group to destroy women's sex-based rights. How bloody dare they!

PS love the graphic!

Almost £160k spent on Stonewall each year by Welsh Government.

I had to read that figure several times.

That's astonishing and not in a good way.

It's Alice in effing Wonderland stuff. Our Government is paying a lobby group to destroy the rights of half of the population. In the name of inclusion.

You actually couldn't make it up.

Well done and good luck @MerchedCymru

Given that the Welsh Assembly seems to to have outsourced all its LGB and TQ+ diversity work to Stonewall it's probably not such a bad bargain. How much would it cost to employ a couple of people with proven track records in LGB and TQ+ rights and a team for admin and research? More than £160,000, I bet.

No excuse for such irresponsibility, obviously. It's going to backfire badly. Welsh women, does the Welsh government have an inquiry system like Westminster? How can it be held accountable?

Given that the Welsh Assembly seems to to have outsourced all its LGB and TQ+ diversity work to Stonewall it's probably not such a bad bargain. How much would it cost to employ a couple of people with proven track records in LGB and TQ+ rights and a team for admin and research? More than £160,000, I bet.

I'm sure we'd agree it represents value for money had their advice been correct - or if it had truly represented protected characteristics rather than removing them.

I wonder how much this is going to cost to fix.

All it will take is a couple of court cases and it will make the £160,000 and being a SW champion very very expensive.

Too true! Which begs the question that now they know Stonewall's been touting bad advice and trying to use the WAG to its own ends, they haven't already issued a statement terminating the arrangement.

@Shedbuilder

Too true! Which begs the question that now they know Stonewall's been touting bad advice and trying to use the WAG to its own ends, they haven't already issued a statement terminating the arrangement.

I have to assume that nobody had an SLA that holds SW accountable for any failures or 'costs incurred' - no chance of refunds/reparations.

They shouldn't need one Embarrassing. If SW stuck a 'we are not responsible' clause in the agreement, the legal teams of the welsh government should have had flashing lights going off all over the place. If they didn't it would be a dereliction of duty. Ha, lets hope some of the civil servants are scurrying around trying to protect their jobs.

Good grief, literally money for old rope (if you count old rope as being rewriting women out of the protected characteristics and removing the word mother from staff policies). What finished me was the complete indifference to women of faith. Let's hope the Govt comes to it's senses. Complete omnishambles....

I loved living and working in Wales but in my occasional encounters with AMs and WAG staffers no one ever scurried.

A year or two ago it was revealed here that someone on Mumsnet had done an FOI asking for a copy of an impact assessment when a previous Transgender Action Plan (or similar) had been implemented. The WAG are required, under their own rules, to assess the impact of any changes on everyone who might be affected by the policy. The key group likely to be affected was women. The WAG eventually informed the enquirer that the impact assessment had been done but that all documentation, emails, details of meetings and communications relating to it had been lost — in two languages! Lost, my arse.

Oh and a very assertive piece MC, no punches pulled! ✊🏻

Is there a link to a Welsh language version please OP?

@Olderbadger1

It's Alice in effing Wonderland stuff. Our Government is paying a lobby group to destroy the rights of half of the population. In the name of inclusion.

You actually couldn't make it up.

This.

That was the extraordinary case of 'the dog ate my EIA' as I recall Shed. It was a MNer putting in all the FoIs I think. The barefaced cheek of Welsh Gov pretending that the entire paper-trail had been 'lost' left me stupified.

Here's one of the threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3652524-Welsh-Assembly-and-the-lost-equality-impact-assessment

Wonder if FoIRequester is still on MN? She did sterling work but WG are totally shameless.

Strange times, the Welsh voters went for Labour as a preference which means welsh women either don't mind being cis, or Welsh media have been very very quiet. Lets hope it was the Covid bounce and that Welsh women are going to come out fighting

"Is there a link to a Welsh language version please OP?"

I think Merched Cymru are all volunteers SilentPanic, so not everything is translated. I know one of the women on their Twitter rota is Welsh-speaking and their campaigns are bilingual. With all the clicky links to FOIs etc in that blog it would be quite a task to do a Welsh version.

@SilentPanic

Is there a link to a Welsh language version please OP?

Not at the moment I'm afraid. Our volunteers (some of whom are balancing childcare, jobs and well, life basically) are at full tilt at the mo. Our tweets and some social media posts get the full treatment but not on this occasion. Hopefully as we grow we may get more women with written skills in Welsh language who can support us with this.

Just seen that Starmer has committed the Labour Party to self-ID. Makes this campaign even more urgent... hope you are right and the Welsh women do come out fighting Highame. Otherwise we are screwed.

@highame

Strange times, the Welsh voters went for Labour as a preference which means welsh women either don't mind being cis, or Welsh media have been very very quiet. Lets hope it was the Covid bounce and that Welsh women are going to come out fighting

I'll fess up to being a Labour activist and voter (please don't judge me harshly lol). I've stayed in and campaigned basically because I hope it gives me an 'in' with my MS and MP to keep this discussion going in the party. Most members are so woke (or ignorant of the issues) I can't bear to give them free reign with no dissenting voices. This really is Welsh Labour's blind spot. I'm fuming over Kier Starmer's latest declaration regarding reforming the GRA. Well and truly sitting on the fence!

labourlist.org/2020/06/labour-will-scrutinise-government-gender-recognition-plans-says-starmer/

@SilentPanic

Is there a link to a Welsh language version please OP?

How about volunteering to translate, SilentPanic? You're clearly bilingual!

stillamum brave woman, staying in for the long haul, you have my support. The link is dated 17th June, 2020, 2:17 pm, and when I read it, it really didn't say anything, in fact smoke and mirrors. There's hope