UCU being taken to tribunal over discrimination for 'gc' views

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/gender-critical-documentary-makers-take-ucu-tribunal

The filmmakers of 'Adult Human Female' are taking UCU to tribunal.

I'll try to find an archive copy.

I was fairly pro-trans, live and let live, until about 2017 when I came on here and watched a video of a talk by someone who was a radical feminist (which sadly I can’t find as I don’t remember her name). Her views were so very obviously straightforward common sense that I wondered how anyone could object.

Admittedly, it took, me a few years before I became the raddled, correctly sexing evil witch I am today, but it literally only took me one film to understand the basic objections to current transactivism.

Listening to logic is dangerous if you’re a glassy-eyed activist. You might lose your faith…

Was that the late, great Magdalen Berns @PriOn1?

Or thinking of other talks that made an impact around that time, maybe Rebecca Reilly-Cooper.

I also thought Rebecca Reilly-Cooper.

Not a talk, but there was also that particularly memorable video with the lady (was she Dutch?) who explained the lunacy of TWAW via an analogy with a bicycle. Can anyone remind me of her name?

Yes! I could remember her name was Rebecca with a double barrelled surname, but couldn’t remember the latter. Thank you!

Peach Yogurt. I was definitely a fan-girl!

Try this @PriOn1:

Yup! That’s the one. Thank you so much!

Just for you! Hope this works.

Brilliant! Thank you! I love her delivery 😂

Apologies, @ArabellaScott for the small (but happy) diversion.

GC films are powerful things!

I did finally get round to watching Adult Human Female tonight. It seemed quite unremarkable. I hope the judge does watch it, having seen the recent performances in court.

The only part I thought was slightly unfortunate was the predictions about Labour losing voters. Given the (fairly predictable really) GE result (I’m sure it lost Labour some votes, but not enough to dent the landslide) that part hasn’t aged well, but nobody can get everything right!

NALALT

I can't find TT's thread from this morning either and it's not on their substack. A shame as it sounds like it was the most bonkers witness. Hopefully it will be updated tomorrow.

This is the link from part 2 this morning:

https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/1907739225321087278

there is a link to part 1 at the top.

(hope it works, my first post on MN!)

Well done, the link worked a treat! Unfortunately I'm not on X but that's not the point, your link worked, the first successful post of many I hope

Re your username - can I have both please?

https://www.ucu.org.uk/equality

I think the focus of the different members of UCU equality staff is interesting.

They don't reflect the different protected characteristics - there is a National Equality and Policy lead for migrant members - "UCU campaigns to improve support for migrant members and to challenge government policies which target, persecute, and disenfranchise migrants in the UK." (I don't know whether this includes all foreign academics, or just those who are persecuted?)
And an officer for LGBT issues and gender.

However no member of staff with a specialism in age or maternity - which I would have thought would be particularly relevant in this sector, given the sometimes short term nature of employment?

They do say that they 'implement the policies and priorities determined by members through the democratic lay structures', but I assume that will mean that they reflect the views of the people who turn up at meetings.

I suppose that isn't different to a political party, but a political party also has to account for the wishes of the wider electorate (not that they always do - hence Truss and Corbyn).

But does the general union membership care about this? Do they lose members?

Do we know when to log in? Is it 11?

https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/12037/Gender-discrimination

Maternity rights get a mention at the bottom of this page - but just a link to a guide.

Not as important as the more hot button issue of menopause, which is below FGM.

Obviously FGM is a very important issue, but is it more relevant to a UK union for academics than maternity rights?

To be fair, right at the top of the page they talk about the gender pay gap.

"Academic gender pay gap will take 40 years to close
It will take 40 years to close the academic gender pay gap, warned a 2017 report from UCU. The report reveals that, in 2015/16, UK universities had a 12% overall gender pay gap for academic staff, compared to 12.3% in 2014/15 and 12.6% in 2013/14:"

But in this short summary, they can't quite mention who is adversely affected.

I suspect it's politically difficult for them to link maternity and pay and analyse the uneven material impact of becoming a parent on men and women. That might be cis heteronormative.

"Academic gender pay gap will take 40 years to close
It will take 40 years to close the academic gender pay gap, warned a 2017 report from UCU. The report reveals that, in 2015/16, UK universities had a 12% overall gender pay gap for academic staff, compared to 12.3% in 2014/15 and 12.6% in 2013/14:"

And of those, do we know how many are men who identify as women and thus distort the figures?

I don’t think we do know. I’m going to join at 10am, hoping that J will be there to explain the plan for the day. I do find her very clear.

WFTCHTJ

Yes I am doing the same - am WFTCHTJ

As we’re not in yet I think it will be 10:30 or 11am.

Will try again later.

That UCU report covers 2015/16. It uses the words 'men' and 'women' as if they meant something that was obvious to the reader, and they say things like:

At the elite research intensive Russell Group universities the imbalance is even greater – just over a third (35.3%) of senior lecturers are women, and only 22.7% of professors are women. At non-Russell Group Pre 92 universities only 23.7% of professors are women, and at Post 92 universities 29.1% of professors are women.

as if it was a bad thing which unions should be concerned about, because it showed that 'women' (what they understood by that word before the trans movement came along to broaden their bandwidth) are under-represented and maybe even marginalised in the higher echelons of education.

I did my usual word-frequency search - the word 'women' appears 101 times, 'transgender' does not appear at all. Hard to imagine such a thing in 2025, isn't it?

I had an idea years ago that TV soaps should pool their resources so if there's an accident on East Enders, the cast from Casualty show up, and if anyone goes on holidays to the Yorkshire Dales, they go to Emmerdale, and if anyone emigrates to Australia, they settle down in Summer Bay.

It made perfect sense to me😄

Then lo and behold I'm following two tribunals, and feck me but isn't the father of one of the respondents the boss of one of the witnesses in the other!
You couldn't make it up!

Well actually, I did make it up, but it was about soap operas and I never thought it would happen in real life.

Now I think of it, the same person appears keeps appearing as a barrister in all these dramas ....🤔

I thought the tribunal was starting at 10 today?

I swear I'm going to hear a disembodied voice chanting "Waiting for the conference host to join" in my sleep...