Respect my Sex - Mayor of Watford

[Magenta82]

Hi All
With the up coming local elections I wanted to get an idea of the candidates views on women's rights. In Watford we have an elected mayor, the position has been held by 2 people since it was created 20 years ago, both LibDems.

To get an idea of the candidates' stances I sent the following message to all 3 (as well as the local council candidates who haven't replied).

Dear Candidate

I live in xxx Ward and currently find myself politically homeless, having recently given birth to a baby girl I have come to realise the importance of women’s hard won rights and protections and the reasons they are needed. You may have seen the campaign ‘Respect my Sex if you want my ‘X’’, in which women all over the country are talking to local election candidates about women’s sex-based rights and single-sex spaces and services.

Sex is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act. Women’s single-sex spaces and services matter for the dignity, privacy, and safety of women.

Yet some local authorities, have begun prioritising the concept of self-identified ‘gender’ over sex. This filters down into Council policies with an impact on the provision of women’s single-sex spaces and services – for example public toilets and park facilities. Clarity about sex also matters for sports – girls and women need single-sex competitions to guarantee fair and safe competition. Clarity about sex matters for safeguarding children. Some schools have removed single-sex toilets and local authorities have endorsed materials which suggest that what makes a child a boy or a girl is whether they fit into masculine or feminine stereotypes.

I’m interested to know where you would stand on these issues and would be grateful if you would let me know how you would answer the following questions:

Can you tell me what a woman is?
Do you understand that the Equality Act 2010 allows for single-sex services and sports?
If elected, would you work to ensure that our local authority:
retains the concept of sex where it matters in language, communications, data collection, and policy development;
protects women’s single-sex spaces and services, both in direct provision, and where you have regulatory / partnership influence;
prioritises safeguarding the vulnerable, especially children, in the provision of all spaces and services where sex matters?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

My Name

I have heard back from all 3 and will post the replies in the order I received them.

Thank you for this interesting post. I’m politically homeless too, for the same reasons as you, although no election in my area at the moment, so less time pressure to decide.

Of the three responses you post, the Conservative candidate seems by far the strongest. The Labour response is so brief as to be insulting/lack credibility, and the Libdem response, while thoughtful and articulate, refuses to engage with the clear conflict between women’s rights and the demands of trans lobbyists. Denying the problem isn’t much help eh. (So tired of people talking about ‘gender identity’ as if it is anything other than personality. Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic but personality / gender identity is not, and never will be.)

Depressing, as I despise Boris Johnson and his team of comedians and would love for them to get a nasty local election shock. But I do believe in voting for the best local candidate even if their boss is an idiot (I certainly wouldn’t want my former career to be judged by the quality of my bosses), and it looks like you have a clear winner here.

Cleary the Tory response is the best one and actually addresses in text your questions and is a personalised letter.

The problem for me with this is that your questioning was not precise enough and therefore you haven't got the outcome you wanted and needed. If you ask 'Can you tell me what a woman is?' virtually everyone will say ahf however this does not tell you that this person does not believe that transwomen are women, because they may believe this as well. You don't know from the answer whether the Labour candidate believes this or not. Similarly with the EA, they have replied 'Yes I understand this' however do they support this and abide by it or will they dodge it and use the 'reasonable allowance' argument, perhaps they believe that transwomen have actually changed sex so therefore are included in this? I'm sorry but I think Labour believe they are being very clever on this by saying 'oh my goodness, don't be silly, of course women are ahf' whilst behind closed doors believing transwomen are actually women and should be allowed access to single sex spaces.

I could go on however hopefully you get the point. I'm afraid I don't really trust anyone on this issue yet because when push comes to shove we always get 'but it's sooooo complex' and 'be kind'. The only party who seem to be saying the right thing are the Tories but where is the action?

I'd go Tory. Only one that seems straightforward.

Labour is just too pat, I don't trust it an inch. Needs more detail.

Libdems - sorry, lost the will to live as soon as I saw the wall of text; knew it would be a fudge, so skimmed. Is that a standardised response, I wonder? It's mostly reasonable, but 'spousal veto' clause can fro.

Thank you OP, great thread!

@Binita Mehta-Parmar - on the off chance you come across this post, 👏👏👏Thank you!

Refreshing reply from the LibDem candidate.

At least one of them knows what a woman is, though being one, I guess she has the upper hand 🤷🏻‍♀️

As much as it pains me to admit it, the tory response was by far and away the best. If I were a single issue voter, she'd have my vote. The Lib Dem response was shameful. I don't know how any of them can genuinely look voters in the face as they spout such rubbish. The labour candidate's response was pure laziness (or rude, depending on your point of view), which doesn't actually make me inclined to believe they'd raise a hand to support/protect womens rights.

What is the local population demographic like? As I imagine local Candidates will be more leery of that in terms of how much they try to bang the TWAW drum.

I've just remembered the Tories promising one thing to win an election, and then delivering another thing because they could.

All of a sudden I don't think I can trust them. And anyone who does needs to explain without recourse to Confirmation Bias why they think this is the one promise that will be kept ?

Interesting! Thank you for posting.

Based on this, I wouldn’t be voting Lib Dem, that’s for sure

That's most helpful. Thanks! I'll definitely be voting to re-elect Peter Taylor and the Lib Dems. His response is reasoned, balanced and thoughtful - providing equality and care for all in the community. The other two just seem pandering for a vote. Appreciate your insights.

I’d vote for the first candidate, she seems to have a better grasp of the issues.

Why not write again and ask them what actual services for women they pledge to maintain or initiate?

Lib Dem’s still denying a conflict of rights exists.

Dems not Dem’s

Even if you ignore what they’re actually saying about the questions you’ve asked, the conservative candidate comes across much better.

She’s addressed you like you are a human. The labour candidate’s response is totally perfunctory. The Lib Dems appear to be lecturing you.

I like the first response best, and if I didn't know she was a Conservative, that's who I'd be voting for. But the Labour response is succinct and gives satisfactory answers to the questions. So would probably vote for him, despite my dissatisfaction with national politicians on the issue.

On that I would vote Conservative. Not only because of their views but because the time they have taken to draft a reply. I'd want them to qork hard for my area, if they can't work hard to gain my vote when the want to be elected they certainly won't when they are.

Strong impression that Labour are holding their noses and muttering placatory noises until Friday when the voting's done. After that I suspect we'll find out that they were saying what they thought would get them into power rather than what they actually believe and intend to do to an electorate.

I agree, I feel hers was the best response, it was personal, human and succinct.

The Labour candidate didn't even bother to copy my name correctly, it was on the email and is part of my email address, I felt like I was treated as a nuisance rather than a voter giving him the opportunity to make a connection and gain a vote.

The Lib Dems jumped on a soapbox for a lecture and says they are "committed to gender equality" which obviously isn't the same as sex equality. I also feel that removing the so called spousal veto makes it harder for women to divorce their transitioning partner should they wish to.

For me as a left-leaning woman, the Conservative gave the best answer.

I have no vote in Watford but live near enough and have friends who live in Watford so I use facilities and amenities there frequently so this matters to me even though I have no say.

Tory it is then.

Based on what you have posted I would vote Conservative

I agree that the tory candidate's answer is the clearest, but the Labour candidate's is passable, and given how nasty the tories are on so many other issues, I'd go with labour. Admittedly, as the child of a single mother and with a chronic health condition I would rather not vote than vote tory.

but there are hundreds of thousands of trans people for whom that is not the case, and I believe we must respect their identities too.

Really? I would love to see some proper stats on this.

I would say I am left leaning - but those responses would make me vote Tory. Labour seem to be pretending it still is not happening, and sticking their heads in the sand - never a good look. The Lib Dems responses are disingenuous at best - the same old 'We are committed to upholding women’s rights and trans rights, and do not believe that the two are in conflict' This statement would mean I would never vote for them. The very fact they cannot acknowledge there is a clear conflict makes be think they have no grip on reality - for anything.