Dodds- Minister for Women.

[FondOfOwls]

https://x.com/10DowningStreet/status/1810245536869458298

So Anneliese Dodds is officially Minister for Women and Equalities.
Are we completely fcked now?

Very depressing if so

This is a giant 'FUCK YOU' from Starmer to women. I am unsurprised tbh - I expected it and so did many of us.

Bring on Kemi as leader of the Conservatives - I would like to see her mince him up at PMQs.

Fuck me that interview is woeful.

ONE STEP FORWARDS TWO STEPS BACK.

Oh shit, oh poo, oh bollocks, oh fuck!
Us GC witches are right out of luck.
There are men in our spaces (and only some of them tuck).
The next few years could truly suck!

But we can't give up, we have to fight!
No ifs, no buts, no maybe I might!
We know what's wrong and what is right,
those men in our spaces is our plight.

We can't let this drop. We can't allow
those that nature did endow
a cock and balls our rights to plough.
We will fight on. That is our vow.

So those who can protest and shout.
We'll write and speak to those with clout.
We'll tell them plainly what it's about.
We will prevail - be of no doubt.

But for now, once more, we've just begun,
we can't let our gains all be undone.
There'll come a time when this fight is done,
when our battle is finished, and women have won.

But until that time when we drink and feast,
when we celebrate, when we've slain the beast,
when we're no longer being fleeced,
us GC witches, well... us WOMEN WON'T WHEESHT!

Its all a bit beneath him, isn't it?

Having to comment on which men get to be in the changing rooms with girls. Best to say the law is clear and walk off.

Mmmm.

<waits>

While I'm waiting, I observe merely in passing that all the threads attacking women who held the line have mysteriously dropped off.

Moving to department for Education?

Hmmm.

That's troubling in a way. Authoritarianism uses education as a silencing tool.

Having said that Phillipson is from the NE. She's from an area which isn't taking well to this (huge Reform vote).

It strike me as Starmer trying to play both sides with this. But Dodds effectively has a demotion on this.

I note that whilst women has moved to Education, trans issues are going to be lead by health developments and the Cass Review.

That stays with Wes Streeting.

Also I don't think there's an easy row back from TWAW without upsetting people. It has to be done quietly and slowly if you don't want a backlash. So I'd caution about being too dispondant at this point.

Remember you've got sunk costs and reverse ferret considerations here.

Let's see how it develops.

If anyone is interested she is my local MP and I emailed her prior to the election in these issues and can cut and paste her response?

Yes please!

Anneliese Dodds, the former party chair, has been confirmed as development minister. She keeps her women and equalities portfolio, and will attend cabinet.

So women not worthy of our own minister however shit?

Email received from AD the day before the election:
In regard to women’s rights Labour does not support self-ID, and we would retain the need for a specialist medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria for the purposes of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate. I have always been crystal clear that sex is not the same as gender - and that we do need to protect single sex spaces. As you may be aware, for more than fourteen years, Labour’s Equality Act has protected people from discrimination because of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. This includes protections for women from discrimination on the basis of their sex, and for service providers to maintain spaces exclusively for females. I remain committed to protecting and upholding this Act, including its protected characteristics, its provision for single-sex exceptions, and the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Conservatives voted against the Equality Act in 2010.
I believe that treating biological women with respect and dignity (and protecting their right to single sex spaces) is compatible with ensuring that trans people are also treated with respect and dignity. We’ve seen a lot of heat from the Conservatives on these issues, but not much light. The Conservative Government spent months promising guidance for schools on children questioning their gender, only to call an election before it came into effect. It talked about the importance of single sex wards in hospitals while allowing the use of mixed sex wards to soar, with women made to spend the night on wards alongside male patients 44,000 times last year. The current Prime Minister has also attacked the Equality Act as a “Trojan Horse”, yet now claims to cherish its protections for biological women.
It's clear that only Labour can be trusted to defend the Equality Act, and to ensure that service providers understand how to apply its single-sex exceptions, such as refuges for vulnerable women. That is why Labour is committed to issuing new statutory guidance on the single sex exceptions if we enter government – a common-sense approach that provides clarity for service providers for when trans people should be included and when excluding them is proportionate and legitimate. Our manifesto is also clear that: “Labour is proud of our Equality Act and the rights and protections it affords women; we will continue to support the implementation of its single-sex exceptions”.
We share the same concern about women’s rights. After fourteen years of the Conservatives, maternal mortality has been increasing in our country, gynaecology waiting lists are the worst in our NHS, rape convictions are appallingly low, and women’s incomes have fallen precipitously. I strongly believe women deserve better, and that the only way they’ll get a better deal is with a Labour government.
Thank you once again for contacting me to share your views.

Having said that Phillipson is from the NE. She's from an area which isn't taking well to this (huge Reform vote).

Also worth noting that her mother who was a single parent, set up and ran a womens refuge in the area. very vocal about women's rights.

Lots of info online about her. Worth reading.

She completely ignored my references to the Cass Report and young people etc.
if anyone wants to draft a response happy to send it!

Somehow blamed the tories for lack of schools guidance!

That is why Labour is committed to issuing new statutory guidance on the single sex exceptions if we enter government – a common-sense approach that provides clarity for service providers for when trans people should be included and when excluding them is proportionate and legitimate

And what is this? I was not aware of this at all...will this actually happen?

😂

1. not all women are bothered.
2. Kemi is TERRIBLE at thinking on her feet. Ed Balls completely tied her in knots on GMB. Any hope of her making mincemeat of Starmer are misplaced.

x.com/GMB/status/1797536066917765428/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1797536066917765428&currentTweetUser=GMB&currentTweet=1797536066917765428&currentTweetUser=GMB

Hold their feet to the fire.

When does Mridul Wadhwa get sacked?

When will womens prisons be free of men prisoners?

They are promising NHS nurses single sex changing rooms?

So they ne3d to fucking fix it all. Now.

for when trans people should be included and when excluding them is proportionate and legitimate

Starmer responded that men with a GRC shouldn’t enter female toilets didn’t he?

I response to JKR just before GE

Dodds reiterates refugee so I guess we’ll see where men with GRCs are excluded or not

Reading that about the GRC possibly falling under health jogged my memory about Wes Streeting mentioning a consultation on reform.

If anyone is on twitter they could ask him if he's consulting the public on the reform.

The first I heard of it was during the election campaign. This time last year I remember their being supportive of clarifying the meaning of 'sex' and 'single sex spaces' in the Equality Act itself. I'm pretty sure I can recall Jess Phillips speaking in favour of it in the Westminster Hall debate last summer and a 'party spokesperson' also making supportive noises.

The reason I remember is because it gave me grounds to hope Labour were moving back to a position that I could support

Then the election was called, and suddenly the idea was being dismissed by Labour as a 'distraction'. Instead they claimed all that was needed was updated guidance.

One can only guess at what might have caused this change of heart.

My mind just keeps boggling all over again.
How is does a man - with a piece of paper saying that a medical professional believes that he believes that he should be a woman - then become a woman?
I could ask AD for examples of scenarios where she believes the exemption should apply and where it shouldn't apply?
I will ask whether she will consider the views of religious people such as Muslims (many in our constituency) as to keeping the sexes separate? Or will being trans be more worthy of dignity and respect than being a Muslim woman?

So we can have over a year of Badenoch doing nothing because of....reasons, but day 3 of the Labour government and they need to get Mridul sacked, now.

so you're ok with Mridul still in post then?

@BonfireLady this is pretty good too in terms of relevance to today's debate! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Identity-Crisis-Ben-Elton-ebook/dp/B07MCCQ2ND/ref=mpssa111?crid=31O8IJ36OYAD1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oFIchSOxAuyNiUavVFvP-YNtNcj4wyPFQonEJuZqqsL6b5s0y0FY9c8JOVD1GZsl3gaZI1E1Y0VyL7DLE5qkOp8dUqUxceDMyqnZVuQtbaNb4gVtxSSvH61BJedLF-3ksQ21NJqO44fus4rH06vZA.NLU3DtQeQ1eGP9MBHsn6SxWq-jkZeyGWwLY8pNktWRk&dibtag=se&keywords=ben+elton+identity+crisis&qid=1720458978&sprefix=ben+elton%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1