Women’s Aid statement on single-sex spaces

[TheCurrywurstPrion]

www.womensaid.org.uk/womens-aid-single-sex-services-statement/

I’m cautiously optimistic about this statement, which at least recognises that single-sex spaces can be legal and that some women and children have a need for them. There’s still more emphasis on ensuring trans needs are met, but I think this might be the first time that there’s been some balancing vis-a-vis women only spaces.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Never heard of Galop. What is it?

An organisation like Stonewall, purporting to be for "LGBTQ" but focussing primarily on trans rights activism.

Think they started out as the GAy LOndon Policing project back in the eighties. Were very good at compiling stats about gay bashing in campaigns against Met police homophobia and Section 28, I vaguely remember.

Let's hope it's not too little, too late.

Thanks, Eresh. So nothing to do with Women's Aid as such. In any case I think Women's Aid should stick to women as per their name and leave others to their own Men's Aid or whatever. But they're international by the sound of it so there may be other considerations or pressures they have to manage. And funding.
As their core charity purpose is to centre women and children, I think that funding should follow that principle as well, and funding by, say, central or local government should not be conditional on having to provide services to men, trans-identifying or non-binary or whatever they may choose to 'identify' as.

Galop is (now) an LGBT DV support service, so tbf they have every reason to comment. (I don't support their comment as I think the WA position is very fair and should be wholeheartedly endorsed by orgs such as Galop, but it's not fair to suggest they have no business commenting.)

That's very good.

I'm happy for there to be some trans-inclusive spaces even in this sector, as not all women would be traumatised by the presence of all males (some would be perfectly happy sharing those spaces with transwomen). But others quite legitimately would not and their feelings are not prejudice, they are reasonable and they produce a need. It is important to maintain provision for single-sex services, and there is nothing wrong with doing so.

Galop never used to be a DV charity. So that must be new.

I hope new funding is being found, and existing funding isn't being made to stretch over more services when the evidence of need is being presented.

@ResisterRex I vaguely think Galop absorbed DV into their brief when Broken Rainbow collapsed, but I might have things confused. It's definitely one of their main areas of work now, either way.

Ah, I forgot about Broken Rainbow.

Of all organisations, Sign Health (a deaf charity) has come out swinging for the males. The most marginalised and abused group of all, blah blah blah, got to be front and centre of everything whenever women are mentioned

Has anyone chucking their toys out of the pram even bothered reading what Women's Aid have said? Or did the words "single sex" catch their eye and they started instantly frothing and had to run straight to twitter, aghast that there would be even ONE space existing that said no to males.

I saw SignHealth. Shocking really given the extra layers of difficulty that d/Deaf women face exiting violent relationships.

nia have "warmly welcomed" WA and WRC' statements/positions, part of which says:

"Too few charities stay political about the causes they were set up to address. It seems that many organisations addressing men’s violence against women and girls have traded their political edge for a placatory or ‘safe’ relationship with the government, statutory organisations, funders and even the media or general public. nia chose not to take this ‘playing-safe approach’ and was – as far as we are aware – the first UK specialist provider of services for women victim-survivors of men’s violence to openly and proudly defend the need for single sex services.

We committed to protecting single-sex services as a strategic priority in 2017, at a time when this was a risky position to take. However, we were, and remain, determined to put the needs of women survivors first. We developed a Prioritising Women Policy as a framework for the provision of services based on utilising the single sex exemptions permissible within the Equality Act 2010. We support and value the work of other organisations who focus on other groups of people, male victims, perpetrators and/or people with transgender identities.

We would like to acknowledge the individual women activists and grassroots organisations, particularly Women’s Place UK, Fair Play for Women and Sex Matters, who, with us, have spoken out for some time in resistance to the threats to women’s sex-based rights and protections when others chose not to do so. We have worked together to create space for other organisations to join us."

niaendingviolence.org.uk/statement-nia-warmly-welcomes-the-recent-statements-by-womens-aid-federation-england-and-the-womens-resource-centre/

It is essentially an argument over wether women should be allowed to have anything at all for ourselves, or wether men must always have access to women spaces and services.

Women’ Aid is tentatively saying ‘yes, we should be allowed a space for ourselves’, while Galop is saying ‘no, women should never ever be able to have anything of their own,, men must always be allowed to demand access’.

There should not be but clearly there is a hierarchy of victimhood developing which pushes males to both the top and bottom of the hierarchy.

The issue is that males have protection under the PC sex too, where is the line where sxcluding some males but not all males is /is not direct discrimination.

So that statement reads a little different using female and male and people.

"Women’s Aid has released its position on the inclusion of males trans women in the single-sex services within its membership.
As Women’s Aid points out in its statement, the violence against females women and girls sector, and the services it provides to support females women and girls who are victims of domestic abuse, have been built by and for females women over the last five decades – and some of the people women who have worked and volunteered to create those services have been male trans women.
Males Trans women have always been part of this movement, both as service users and service providers. Males They must not be erased from this narrative and we are mindful of the impact this statement is likely to have on those male trans and non-binary people who are currently working in or accessing these services.
Galop supports the ongoing commissioning of specialist services, including those run by and for male and female all women, and we do not see male trans inclusion as being in conflict with this. We are concerned that, in approaching male-inclusion trans-inclusion in this way, Women’s Aid is inaccurately conflating males trans women with perpetrators of abuse and violence, and is doing so as a voice of power towards a disempowered gender non-conforming males minority group with far less influence and platform than female victims of domestic abuse.
These positions, single-sex female services and separated male services, often fail to acknowledge or understand the realities of the abuse and violence faced by male trans and non-binary people in the UK, or how those male victims are left in the wake of that abuse. Every day, Galop works with male trans and non-binary people who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse. What we consistently see through both our frontline work and our research is that male trans people do not have safe, male-inclusive trans-inclusive spaces to go to when they need to flee. There is a narrative that male trans people in refuge spaces and female other women’s services are a danger to female other service users – whereas what we see is that males trans women are often at risk of victimisation and assault in those male accommodation services that are open to them.
As a result of this lack of safe provision for male trans and non-binary people, we see male trans people that we work with having to choose between staying in dangerous and abusive situations or facing dangerous and damaging alternatives, including homelessness. The current system is failing male trans people in this country, and this statement by Women’s Aid is a reflection of that failure.
Domestic abuse services exist in order to support and protect victims of abuse. Women’s Aid represents the vast majority of these services across England and Wales, many of which we know are already not open to male trans women and non-binary people who are victims of abuse and violence. If these services remain closed to these male victims, and no other services are provided as an alternative, then this approach condones and is complicit in leaving male trans people without a way to reach safety.
We agree with Women’s Aid that all survivors should have access to services that are right and safe for them, based on their needs. There should not be a hierarchy of victimhood and there should be provision of enough high-quality, survivor-centred, safe, and specialist services for all victims and survivors of abuse and violence in this country.
No one should have to choose between having a place to live, and living free from abuse. No one should experience sexual assault or transphobic hate crimes in hostels because they had nowhere else to go. We urge those who speak of their desire for male trans people to live in safety and dignity to push for the provision of male-inclusive trans-inclusive specialist services in light of Women’s Aid’s statement today

@MummBRaaarrrTheEverLeaking

Of all organisations, Sign Health (a deaf charity) has come out swinging for the males. The most marginalised and abused group of all, blah blah blah, got to be front and centre of everything whenever women are mentioned

Has anyone chucking their toys out of the pram even bothered reading what Women's Aid have said? Or did the words "single sex" catch their eye and they started instantly frothing and had to run straight to twitter, aghast that there would be even ONE space existing that said no to males.

If WA follow up and act on the statement of pushing back with funders who demand mixed sex provision that would be a significant change. Not providing funding unless mixed sex provision is made is what TRA have done in Canada.

That's an excellent statement. Wow. Was not expecting that at all.

Excellent, I’ll bung a donation to WA and also Nia tomorrow.

It still doesn't explain the impossibility of policing a person's sex if all documentation says female.

I would like them to make a commitment to provide a single sex service for women and children in every city.

@Thelnebriati

I would like them to make a commitment to provide a single sex service for women and children in every city.

I agree. But I'd take it further and insist that there be a commitment to provide a single sex resource, facility or place available for every female person who requests it .

Mixed sex services for consenting females to access are fine. TQ+ people are already very thoroughly covered.

What cannot be ok is that women and their children are excluded from accessible support without bloody judgement on whether or not their accessibility challenges pass someone else's judginess and intolerance because there's only one place that does single sex and that's permanently full with several hundred women on the waiting list.

Because let's face it, that is exactly what it will look like in practice.

I think it was a good statement. They used it to point out that there are far more women in need of refuge than transwomen ("Arelatively small number of trans womenneed toaccess emergency accommodation."), and said that they supported the right for refuges to turn away transwomen even if they had a GRC ("Some members conclude that it is not appropriate to include trans women (including those with a Gender Recognition Certificate) in women-only shared spaces. We support their right to make this assessment")

This feels like a big deal.

I know it's not a change from their current practice, but spelling it out like this will hopefully empower more refuges to use the exemption. It might also encourage others to put in place provision for trans services that WA can signpost people too.

I agree @MedusasBadHairDay - I hope it will empower service providers to make it very clear exactly who their service is able to help. This would mean women (and children) are able to confidently present to actually single sex services if that's what they need, and transwomen are able to confidently present to suitably inclusive services too.

I realise all of that sidesteps the huge issue of sufficient funding (complicated by the drive to gender-neutral provision by many commissioners), but I think it's important we don't ask women's services to fudge it and defer these issues until some mythical time when the money is plentiful. In any case, more transparency about existing provision and demand should ideally be useful to future decisions about funding.

Scottish women's aid have reaffirmed their committment to men on Twitter today, so that's fun.

@MaChienEstUnDick

Scottish women's aid have reaffirmed their committment to men on Twitter today, so that's fun.

I camo to post this. Compare and contrast...

Scottish Women’s Aid’s Position Statement on Transgender Women.

Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) believes the oppression of trans women is a women’s issue. Sexism, homophobia and transphobia go hand in hand, in an oppressive gender system that maintains the superiority and mastery of ‘real men’ over women and those who do not confirm to expected gender norms.

SWA Aid understands gender to be the array of socially constructed roles, traits, attitudes, behaviours, values, responsibilities, relative power, status and influence ascribed to male and female humans on a differential basis (WHO). These are not biological, but learned. Gender identities condition the way human beings are perceived, and how they are expected to think and act. Women and men are made, not born. SWA works with a definition of gender-based violence as ‘any form of violence used to establish, enforce or perpetuate gender inequalities and keep in place gendered orders. In other words gender-based violence is a policing mechanism’ (Lang 2002). As such it incorporates all violence against women. However it also includes violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the form of homophobic and transphobic hate abuse in any setting. It is any kind of violence used to maintain gender orders and LGBT people experience this on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression which deviates from that which is perceived to be the gender norm.

SWA believes that transgender women and young people experience discrimination and abuse from the same gender-based system all other women and young people, including domestic abuse. The domestic abuse that transgender women and young people experience may be further compounded by the discrimination and abuse they may have experienced in other areas of their lives. Transphobia on a regular basis throughout their lives may result in a trans woman/young person being unable to identify what they are experiencing as domestic abuse. This kind of transphobia may result in
low self-esteem and increased vulnerability and inability to identify abusive behaviour from a partner.

SWA believes that transgender women and young people can experience domestic abuse in the same ways as all other women. This includes emotional abuse, sexual abuse and physical abuse. The abuse is often coupled with specific tools of abuse, targeting gender identity or gender expression. A woman’s gender identity can be used by an abuser as a powerful tool of abuse and control. For example a trans woman may experience transphobia from her partner. They may tell her that she’s not a real woman or make jokes about her bodily appearance. They may also sexually abuse their partner by touching parts of her body she is not comfortable having touched, even by herself. Some trans people report that their abuser normalises the abuse by telling them that they wouldn’t experience jokes, name calling, even violence if they were not transgender and not pretending to be someone that they’re not. This internalises feelings of transphobia and is serious mental and emotional abuse. Transgender people may also be isolated from family and friends due to discrimination experienced on grounds of their gender identity or gender expression, which leaves support from family and potentially friends inaccessible. The isolation a person can experience due to domestic abuse can be further compounded by this.

As a women’s organisation, SWA works to be inclusive of trans women in all areas of our work. We believe that women are a diverse, not homogenous, group with trans women an important part of our rich and culturally diverse society and an important part of the women’s rights movement of which we are proud to be part. We seek to represent the views and experiences of women with disabilities and of differing race, class, age, sexuality and gender identity in the work we do. As a women’s organisation, SWA recognises that transgender women and young people, like all other women and young people, may experience gender-based violence, including domestic abuse, in their lifetime. We recognise domestic abuse as both a cause and consequence of women’s inequality with men in society and intrinsically related to gendered beliefs and systems.

lesser known org, the women's resource centre, did this first (and slightly stronger) last week:
www.wrc.org.uk/blog/wrc-statement-on-women-only-services-and-sex-based-rights

"For Women Scotland on Twitter: "After the thoughtful and sensitive statement by WA yesterday, Scottish Women's Aid continue to insist on a policy which, we know, many of the associated centres find unworkable, confusing and which creates distress for service users." / Twitter" mobile.twitter.com/ForwomenScot/status/1506713586202206213

@notsusan

lesser known org, the women's resource centre, did this first (and slightly stronger) last week: www.wrc.org.uk/blog/wrc-statement-on-women-only-services-and-sex-based-rights

Thanks for highlighting this.