Please help! Gender not sex on a school 'protected characteristics' poster, just spoken to the Head!

[Vebrithien]

Good morning,

I started this thread before Christmas

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4684558-today-i-found-my-bravery?page=1

The overview is that my DD's primary school is displaying posters by No Outsiders, which are supposed to show the 9 protected characteristics, but shows gender, not sex.

The (male) deputy head I mentioned it to, before Christmas, has not got back to me. The posters are still there.

I summoned up my courage this morning, and spoke to the Headteacher. She seemed surprised, as I said I'd already mentioned it to one deputy head, and that I'd picked up on it due to my school expecting Ofsted, and reissuing our equality training.

The Head said that it was surprising, as No Outsiders were an organisation whose specialism was equalities.

I replied that the EA2010 says sex, not gender. I also mentioned that there were some concerning resources produced by them, including an assembly where a dad wants to offer violence to children who do not accept his trans child. (I know no more than this)

The Head is going to talk to her other deputy head, whose responsibility this is, and to try to put us in contact.

Where do I do from here?

Can any one help me with evidence? What particularly is dodgy about No Outsiders?

Is there anything that states that schools mustn't misrepresent the EA?

Is there any DofE (or whatever it's called now) guidance for schools on the resources they used or how they represent the EA?

And, how should I go about finding out if the school uses other No Outsiders resources?

Please help, I want as much evidence as I can.

Still shaking with adrenaline from speaking to the Head!

Ah, old school handwritten notes - I'm the same.

But I'm also old school in that I believe that humans can't change sex, so...

😂Never a truer word spoken in jest!

We discussed the No Outsiders posters, which have replaced the word sex with gender, but still has the other 8 protected characteristics included, with their exact wording in law.

Does that sound like an okay "we discussed a, b, and c"?

This is just rife, isn't it? I've just had a look at DD's school's website and there's all sorts of chat about equality / discrimination, etc. Many mentions of gender, gender identity, transgender, and sexual orientation. Not one mention of sex. Brilliantly, right under the first mention of "gender," they link to this document:

What has changed?
The new Equality Duty replaces the three previous public sector equality duties – for race, disability and gender. The new Equality Duty covers the following protected characteristics:
• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality
• religion or belief – this includes lack of belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

www.pfc.org.uk/pdf/equality-duty.pdf

Good morning Vebrithien

I hope this picture loads OK, but it's from the very beginning of the transgender school's guidance I was talking about earlier - it's very clear that sex and gender are two different things

Aha, she's given herself away with that one.
How can anyone be trans if sex and gender are the same?

I mentioned something similar to a friend who's not at all clued up on this, and they said "oh dear, they've confused sex and gender!" So I'd say your average person is aware they are separate concepts.

If this school was in my local authority I would have a very good tool here to challenge that deputy HT, but I have no idea if your LA's guidance will say this, or the opposite, or ignore it altogether - seems madness not to have country wide consistent guidelines.

Maybe ask your local council for your LA's guidance. And check the date - because obviously if it references Mermaids it is out of date.

As an aside, I realise you work in education too and probably already have done some of these things. But when I was reported to my school the investigating officer was also the safeguarding lead.

He had never heard of mermaids. He had not realised that there was a previous version of the guidance that mentioned them and that was almost literally the opposite of the new guidance, updated in September. For some reason, although to me it seems to be the biggest safeguarding problem in schools at the moment, so many people just have no idea......

@rabbitwoman thank you so much.

I'm in the South West, the school is part of a very small MAT.

The council website states sex, in it's inclusion policy.

What should I be looking for, on the council website?
Am going to attempt to PM you, as the guidance you've provided sounds great.

Vebrithien · Today 09:18
Bollicking whatnots.

Spoke to the Deputy head. She knew I'd spoken to her colleagues.

Her arguments for the poster were;

It doesn't say on the poster that it showing the 9 protected characteristics.

2. The EA was 2010, there have been cases in law since then that use sex and gender interchangeably.

3. Gender included gender reassignment, gender identity and something else she couldn't remember.

4. It's more about the school welcoming everyone.

My reply;

a) The wording in law is sex.

b) Every other one of the characteristics was written down, as it is in law.

c) We can't just change the wording of the law.

d) There is no legal definition of gender or gender identity.

e) Awaiting Ofsted, as a teacher, we have been repeatedly reminded that we must use the wording of the law, and to remain politically impartial (referencing the DofE 2020 guidance)

f) Yes, be welcoming and inclusive of everyone, but in that case, sex must also be included.

Her main points were that the poster doesn't say it's the 9 protected characteristics, and that there have been law cases that show that gender and sex are interchangeable

That is frustrating and shocking. Are you in touch with Sex-Matters? Maya Forstater started the petition to update the Equalities Act to make clear that sex means biological sex. Your experience here is absolute proof that this is necessary.
Institutionally captured, or not necessarily very well informed head teachers and deputy heads are promoting a false understanding of the law ( or knowingly getting ahead of the law).

I wonder if she would cite exactly which legal cases in the U.K. have defined sex as gender?

Did you give them a copy of the speech from Policy Exchange last August?
Equalities and rights: Conflict and the need for clarity - GOV.UK

www.gov.uk/government/speeches/equalities-and-rights-conflict-and-the-need-for-clarity

Is there a way for tracing the pack of source materials the misleading poster comes from? It might say, or suggest that it is for teaching the protected characteristics/the Equality Act.

If not, the poster shows 9 characteristics all but one of which do correspond to the law. How confusing for children.

Here are screenshots from the page on ‘sex’ from the Oxford English Dictionary, and the difference between sex and gender from ONS guidance.

I don't yet know if the poster is part of a teaching pack, or just a bright, inclusive poster that has been purchased. It is for sale on the No Outsiders website, as a poster for schools.

Other than the EA, there were no specific cases or laws mentioned. This was 'first contact', so was relatively brief.

I will probably contact Sex Matters. Is there any particular way I should do this, or just look for an email address on their website?

I've just had a look at the No Outsiders website and the text below the poster says:

These posters are designed for classrooms, making a clear statement about the equality ethos in your school.

So while the DepH is technically correct, as the company doesn't explicitly say it is a poster about the EA, she must realise that it is too much of a coincidence to have 9 characteristics for it not to be.

I agree with Arabella's comment earlier regarding not getting into a face off with the DepH, especially as she is already on the defensive. But I'm not sure how you can make your points clearly without being direct.

I would perhaps be inclined to go in a little softer at this stage (because I am a wuss who avoids confrontation if at all possible!) until you know what her stance is on Gender Ideology:

'We discussed the No Outsiders poster which appears to show the 9 PCs in the EA2010 - as it uses the wording in the Act for 8 of them. But the poster uses the word Gender to replace the protected characteristic of Sex, which is incorrect and is not what the law says.'

Which is pretty much what you wrote, but with more words! I suppose in your shoes I would be keeping my cards close to my chest until I knew whether she was
a) defensive because her mistake in getting incorrect posters displayed has been highlighted, or
b) defensive because she is a GI believer.

Ultimately it is No Outsiders who are at fault, but if she was the one who recommended them, I can see why she might be defensive as she may be taking criticism of the posters as criticism of her.

OP I am not sure exactly how to contact Sex-Matters, but think using their ‘contact’ would be best.

Thank you @NancyDrawed. I like the phrasing (can be a bit of a bull in a china shop, myself)

As previously mentioned, the school has a trans or NB HTLA, who teaches the parallel class to my DD. I've never had any interaction with them, but I wonder if the DepHead is feeling defensive of them?

I may have given away that I believe that sex matters, already!

Oooh, I've done it! Sent a message via "Contact" to Sex Matters. Also signed up to their mailing list (am on the WRN mailing list already).

This is what I sent to Sex Matters.. Probably a bit waffley, but I wanted to strike whilst the iron was hot.

Good afternoon,
I've noticed that my daughter's primary school displays several copies of a poster by No Outsiders. It shows the 9 protected characteristics, has 8 correctly named as they are in law, but replaces sex with gender (beside the symbols for sex).

I raised this in passing with an Assistant Headteacher, who was present when I saw the poster, and the Headteacher, who directed me to her Deputy Head.

Today I briefly spoke to the Deputy Head who replied that;

1. The poster doesn't say that they are the 9 protected characteristics.

2.The Equality Act was in 2010, and there have been several cases in law since then, when sex and gender have been used interchangeably.

3. The poster is more about promoting the idea that everyone is welcome at school.

My reply was that sex is the wording in law. The other 8 protected characteristics were on the poster as is their wording in law.

I am concerned. The Deputy Head offered to send the reading she had been doing, on the case law and how gender identity, gender and something else she couldn't remember, were completely fine as a replacement for sex.

I took her up on her offer, and am waiting to see if she contacts me.

Help!

Thank you,
Veb

And that's likely the issue. It's a common factor in institutions that as soon as someone claims to be the opposite sex, professionalism and the law go out of the window and a mist of "we must support this vulnerable individual at all costs" descends. If the individual is the one sharing all the biased posters etc then it's even harder for SLT to stand back and be objective as they'll be petrified of being called a transphobe.

My tactic would be to keep a close eye on all visual displays, policies, communication and to endure that all the relevant protected characteristics are treated with equal importance, rather than the poster becoming "an issue" I might sadly reflect that it's a shame the accurate word sex has been removed as that's an an implication that the school don't value girls. But I'm sure that the school is ensuring that girls are not ignored with sex based data fully interrogated (including at governor level), and staff using attainment, bullying, attendance data to identify issues with girls and all other vulnerable groups.
Somewhat passive aggressive I know and hopefully this is just a poster - rather than an indication the school are being stonewalled.

OP
I just wrote some points using the No Outsiders ‘Not-the-Equalities-Act’ poster
apropos the petition against teaching ‘gender identity’ in children’s RSE lessons at school.

Page 9 | RSE content on gender vs sex | Mumsnet

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4585082-rse-content-on-gender-vs-sex?page=9
www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4585082-rse-content-on-gender-vs-sex?page=9&reply=122997033

Your letter to Sex-Matters seemed very clear indeed. Well done. I hope they can help, but even if they can’t it is important for them to be aware of what parents see happening.

Thank you @ScrollingLeaves, for both posts!
I've also replied on the petition thread (had previously signed all three (?) active petitions)

Thank you for signing
Vebrithien· Today 14:38

Thank you to @rabbitwoman for emailing me the transgender guidance from her LEA.

Plenty of reading to be done.

Thank you OP for doing this. I'm in the South West too and am just waiting for something like this to happen at school.

If you haven’t seen it this thread is very interesting. S many parents writing to say they are against gender ideology in school.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4717755-people-from-our-side-being-vocal-on-twitter-re-gender-identity-ideology-in-schools?latest=1

That deputy head should look.

Sex Matters have replied (see below).
Nothing from the DepHead yet.

Dear Veb

Thank you for your email.

I would definitely take with you our guide to Sex and the Law Layout 1 (sex-matters.org)

As well as our schools guidance:
Sex-Matters-and-Transgender-Trend-schools-guidance.pdf

I think that the basic message has to be that it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of SEX - this is what the law says and using a different word - which does have a different meaning - confuses this and misrepresents the law. So it's important to be absolutely clear about this. Gender or gender identity is not a protected characteristic (gender reassignment is).
You know this already though of course!

Given that there is so much discussion at the moment around sex and gender - being absolutely clear about it is really important - particularly for children, in order that they understand the world around them.

Please let us know how you get on.

Thank you for your support - it means a lot to us

That seems a useful point to try to emphasise. It is very confusing that both balloons have the word ‘gender’ in them.

The everyone is welcome poster must make it clear that there is protection in law based on someone’s sex.

These explanatory notes from Government legislation regarding the Equality Act
show where it is lawful to discriminate against someone with in gender reassignment in favour of the protected characteristic ‘sex’. For example here:

Considerations of privacy or decency might require a public changing room or lavatory attendant to be of the same sex as those using the facilities

Unemployed Muslim women might not take advantage of the services of an outreach worker to help them find employment if they were provided by a man.

A counsellor working with victims of rape might have to be a woman and not a transsexual person, even if she has a Gender Recognition Certificate, in order to avoid causing them further distress.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/notes/division/3/16/26/1#:~:text=The%20exception%20applies%20where%20being,sex%2C%20does%20not%20meet%20it

There is a thread tonight about schools where someone who saw your post I think spoke to their school about the same problem; but in their case the school responded positively.