I had some time... I listened. Here is a brief summary of today's WH...
Starts with an interesting interview with music journo Jaquelin Springer about peodophile R Kelly who is currently facing life in prison, about why it is particular demographics of women and girls are ignored, eg black girls, young ambitious talented girls in the music industry. The narrative goes "because you dance provocatively, dress provocatively, you brought it on yourself" but the truth lies closer to the music industry basically being a massive grooming program.
We need society to change so that men like that become scared of behaving in that way, there need to be consequences for these men, but instead they're enabled and protected.
EB takes messages on How pandemic has affected women, eg WFH being a benefit and going back to office not preferred, the job of a midwife is now virtually impossible, immense pressure... Commuting can cost a fortune, mental health and productivity has increased for some since WFH, not everyone has this option so for them pandemic has made things much harder...
Next really good and interesting chat with Indra Nooyi former CEO of PepsiCo, who's book is titled "my life in full work, family and the future".
Her mum was really sexist in my opinion! Would tell her "when you walk through the door you're a mum and wife, you leave your crown at the door". She basically didn't care about her daughter's exceptional career, but it's all talked about with great humour and practicality.
She lived in a multi generation family, so got lots of help, various relatives could step up if she needed to do long hours etc. Recognises not everyone has/had that luxury. Multi generation homes are not necessarily a feminist issue, more an economical one. They can benefit whole generations, like a network or structure. She doesn't understand why caring work in the west is viewed as "female" work. It's family work. Families have children not women. Women give birth and need time to recover, but families raise children in her view.
Oh my gosh they've followed this lovely interview with an absolutely terrible piece of music, total rubbish sorry this is my opinion but I'm fast forwarding past this interview because it's obviously supposed to be for the younger audience. Lots of giggling etc...
Robin Moiran White is up next who wrote "A practical guide to transgender law" who is up for 2 industry in law awards since transitioning in 2011.
Known to be the go-to-lawyer for trans cases.
Applauds the 2010 act because it removed the need for a medical pathway to be recognised as trans.
Question from EB:
What examples do you have of how trans people are discriminated against?
RMW A non binary person once felt they had to resign from their job because they were treated differently after declaring themself non-binary.
Society expects people to fit into boxes (!)
There are a small minority who don't fit the norm. (Colour me shocked!)
Trans cases tend to make the headlines.
Question from EB about TW in W spaces including toilets
RMW Despite training for years as a lawyer, I do tend to end up giving a lot of advice about "ugh" toilets.
RMW We simply don't have segregation anymore. There are very few places that have sex segregation, I mean we used to have racial segregation we all moved on.
EB pushes a bit for examples of when it might be ok to implement sex segregation...
RMW If you get to, say, breast screening, there may be a higher degree of nakedness so in that circumstance it may well be appropriate to say to a trans person (RMW doesn't specify if they mean a female or male trans person) they need to come at a different time, but this is the extreme end that we need to get to before implementing sex segregation.
RMW I take it as a matter of pride that people on this spectrum of belief can come to me for matters of legal advice.
(^Very interesting turn of phrase there).
On self ID
RMW Self ID has been allowed since 2010 in employment, education, public life.
EB: Do you think some people feel this area of law is moving a bit faster than many people are comfortable with?
RMW Discrimination tends to be like this, I remember the struggles gay people had to be accepted and people were uncomfortable with that too. When we make change some people will be unhappy.
EB: Are you comfortable with a 16 year old potentially having (sex change) surgery?
RMW I would have transitioned in my 20's. There's no definitive answer. The court of appeal has recently decided that the right people to decide that are the people who know the trans individual best. (Keira Bell/Tavistock case)
The law has decided that sex change surgery will vary from person to person.
EB: Do you agree or disagree with the statement "someone who identifies as a different sex is not actually of a different sex"? This is quoted from Baroness someone sorry I didn't catch who, who's duty it is to uphold the equality act.
RMW: She's never actually stated the law. You need to look at the implementation of a particular believe that you hold let's look at work. Most people don't have a choice whether they work or not. So a workplace needs to be a safe place to work, everyone should be free to believe what they want to but not necessarily impose that on others.
(Wow the irony!)
An example eg a Christian nurse wanted to pray with patients who were at the end of life. It was deemed by law to not be appropriate because the patient might have different beliefs.
EB: Does calling a transwoman a biological male constitute hate speech?
RMW.
It can do.
Eg "only women have cervixes" can be a way of saying transwomen are not women but in a different way, and that can be very threatening, but it depends on context. So you need to look at why are those words being used?
RMW Gender critical beliefs CAN be protected beliefs, because anyone can believe what they want to, but are they improperly imposing it on other people? Are they making other people feel uncomfortable in the workplace?
Me: err, yeah so is your belief that men can be women making anyone feel uncomfortable? Unsafe? Are you imposing it on anyone?