The EHRC to issue guidance on single-sex services!

[NonnyMouse1337]

Baroness Falkner, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has told ministers that the body is acting on a request by MPs to issue hospitals, schools, prisons and private firms with "worked examples and guidance" that will "provide clarity ... on the provision of single-sex services." It is expected to issue the guidance early next year.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211016221759/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/10/16/nhs-hospitals-will-given-guidance-keeping-single-sex-wards-equalities/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20211016221759/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/10/16/nhs-hospitals-will-given-guidance-keeping-single-sex-wards-equalities/

Hilarious that they call the Baroness 'chairman'. 😂
Sounds very promising though. I'm nervously optimistic. I suspect orgs in Scotland will continue to ignore any such guidance. 🙄

Fingers crossed for consideration of biological reality over ideology.

Cautiously hopeful here🤞

Well good.

Thing is that the exemptions can be used. They don't have to be.

I would hope with hosps prisons schools etc this might be a step to getting them single sex again.

Outside that though. Many have changed to gender. And I can't see them going back..

It will certainly help any who want to stay single sex and are getting loads of shit about it.

Why single sex provisions are exceptions not exemptions.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4362526-How-is-this-happening-Why-aren-t-companies-etc-adhering-to-the-equalities-act

These clarifications will be useful in places with good intentions who have been bamboozled by previous, erroneous, guidances.

There may be businesses and services who would have applied the exceptions permitted by the EA had it not been for Stonewall lying about the law. Those services may change their misogynist ways.

What these clarifications will most likely not do, is inform businesses and services that it is desirable for the inclusion and equality of women and girls to reinstate single-sex spaces, same sex HCPs, women-only shortlists etc.

I think we need a separate act for women and girls, similar to the old sex-discrimination act, but one that also takes safe-guarding seriously. I am increasingly thinking the EA cannot achieve equality for women, and possibly not for any of the protected characteristics, by bunging them all in together.

I agree we need a separate act for women and girls.

The one thing all of this has shown is that if it’s so easy to steal our legal rights protections, through self id, gra, erroneous advice on equality act implications, then we really have never had any legal protections for the rights of women and girls. We now need that changed. We need an act that sets it in stone and can’t be over turned by all these loop holes.

@Fallingirl

These clarifications will be useful in places with good intentions who have been bamboozled by previous, erroneous, guidances.

There may be businesses and services who would have applied the exceptions permitted by the EA had it not been for Stonewall lying about the law. Those services may change their misogynist ways.

What these clarifications will most likely not do, is inform businesses and services that it is desirable for the inclusion and equality of women and girls to reinstate single-sex spaces, same sex HCPs, women-only shortlists etc.

I think we need a separate act for women and girls, similar to the old sex-discrimination act, but one that also takes safe-guarding seriously. I am increasingly thinking the EA cannot achieve equality for women, and possibly not for any of the protected characteristics, by bunging them all in together.

This.

Such a shame that it's taken so long for this to happen but hopefully it's one of the signs of unpicking the institutional capture of Stonewall over all our institutions.

"The law allows for single sex spaces and we believe it’s important people understand how they should operate in practice. We are looking at how best to provide more clarity for service providers so they can be confident they are complying with the law.”
👏👏👏

She is a guest on Times Radio shortly

@2319inprogress

"The law allows for single sex spaces and we believe it’s important people understand how they should operate in practice. We are looking at how best to provide more clarity for service providers so they can be confident they are complying with the law.” 👏👏👏

....... yeah.

However this tends to be immediately followed by a mutter of 'but everyone can pick the sex they feel like' which just nullifies the whole thing.

I won't hold my breath. At the moment the desperate position of government and EHRC is that somehow single sex spaces AND freedom to choose space by personal gender can exist at one and the same time.

I will also want to see how they balance the 8 other protected characteristics with the 1 that has raised this conflict of need. It is fundamentally wrong and indefensibly discriminatory that some women should lose access to any space at all in order to permit males to have freedom of choice from all the spaces.

I wonder if this will give the snp pause. Though I doubt it

@Hoardasurass

I wonder if this will give the snp pause. Though I doubt it

If there's one thing the SNP excels at it's ignoring the electorate, all evidence and any criticism.

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19639544.andrew-dunlop-nicola-sturgeon-lost-touch-peoples-priorities/

'' Judging by Nicola Sturgeon’s reaction, Douglas Ross’s observation that she had become “detached from working class communities” clearly stung.

Undaunted, up she popped in the Financial Times to prove his point, hoping Covid would be sufficiently “in the rear view mirror” to enable her to press forward with “concrete decisions” on another independence referendum. In a remarkable display of hubris, she vouchsafed that demographics are on her side. Pesky oldies, who believe in the UK, are dying off. And youngsters’ intentions can, apparently, be taken for granted. So she’s happy playing a waiting game.

What sort of person looks at Scottish mortality rates and sees political advantage? Shouldn’t Scotland’s First Minister be worrying about our mortality rates, the highest in the UK and Western Europe?'

I'm choosing hopeful today I have cake Artichokeleaves but I do agree with you.

If there's one thing the SNP excels at it's ignoring the electorate, all evidence and any criticism. with bells on

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/10/16/nhs-hospitals-will-given-guidance-keeping-single-sex-wards-equalities/

This is welcome. It says there will be clearly worked through examples.

I wonder if they'll emphasise the provision of gender neutral alongside single sex. It has always seemed to me that if single sex spaces are exempt they must actually be single sex.

The onus on businesses needs to be on explaining why trans people's needs can't be catered for if they are providing single sex spaces.

Third spaces are absolutely the obvious, logical step that respects all needs instead of removing rights from one group to give them to another. However this will involve boundaries and the word 'no', which to this point no official body has been brave enough to use. And there's usually a lot of weasel words to the effect of 'well you COULD do this if you wanted' (sub text "and good luck with that...")' which usually leaves the group in question to deal with setting the boundary and putting up with the rage that will ensue.

I'll wait and see.

The result of the university women's group currently taking to court their right to refuse males of any identity access to their group will be interesting.

12:35 Baroness Faulkner on Times Radio

They should strengthen the law - all spaces (hospitals, prisons, toilets, refuges etc) = single sex unless an argument can be made otherwise.

This makes no sense. This NHS cannot "keep" single sex wards as it has never had single sex wards. It has always been single gender. Would be great if this could change but they don't seem to realise what the current situation is...

Baroness Falkner was just on Woman's Hour, round about the 25 minutes point talking about this:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010pv6

twitter.com/polblonde/status/1450394078403874816

As this tweet says, the message she's coming out with is that the single sex exceptions need to be applied, simply letting institutions decide what to do is proving to be insufficient.