Bristol Council insists women be called ‘people with ovaries’

[IwantToRetire]

The comments were made in a 39-page response to a consultation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on updates to its guidance, following the ruling that sex in equality laws refers to biological sex.

It wrote that “not all pregnant individuals would use the pronouns ‘she/her’” so it could lead to “emotional and psychological distress” for “trans men, non-binary, gender diverse or intersex individuals”.

“We strongly advise the use of more inclusive language such as using ‘they/them’ to refer to all individuals, or include other identities to reflect the diversity of individuals who access maternity or paternity services,” officials said.

“This could include ‘people with ovaries’ or the term ‘people who use paternity services’. We also recognise that individuals may not identify with the word maternity and prefer paternity as it is gender neutral.

“Additionally, it is unclear what support will be available to trans people who chest-feed to ensure they are protected from discrimination.”
Protections based on biological sex are “too vague”, the response added, as: “It is unclear whether it refers to anyone capable of pregnancy, or only those who were assigned female at birth.”

Council officials complained that the new guidance implies that “trans women are not ‘really’ women” and risked “creating a hostile environment in public services”.

Full article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/22/council-says-women-called-people-with-ovaries/

And at https://archive.is/TOgKA

No. I want single sex spaces as is my right.

and clear language used so that everyone understands exactly what words mean.

I also want my views about my care to be sought and my consent (or lack thereof) to be respected. I don’t want someone else’s inclination to over ride my no.

I also don’t want service providers - as was suggested to me on another thread - to tell me that my rape is something I just have to get over when it comes to access to women’s healthcare.

There are lots of people who choose to have kids that many would think have questionable mental stability given their values, choices, history and quite frankly, their current behaviours. If I really referred everyone that I think should have psychological support to such services, I'd overrun my local services just with my own caseload. There is a criteria for referral, and identifying as trans or non binary is nowhere near the threshold.

None of these things are relevant to "women and pregnant people" when it comes to those who use maternity services.

If you think it’s irrelevant to your job that men can’t have babies, I despair. I really do.

How dare you tell me that.

You have a legal duty to respect my wishes in healthcare. It’s called consent. I suggest you read up on it.

The red flag is if they can't cope with sexed words then they are a risk to their child who needs to understand those words.

And yes I do think they should be forced to face up to this for legitimate child safeguarding reasons.

Sorry.

Again, I don't understand why you are finding this difficult to understand. I am genuinely flummoxed.

I am not saying that sex and gender are the same thing, and I thought it was quite clear in my post that I was arguing the opposite.

Again, when used in a sentence, 'woman' can only refer to sex or gender as the the two meanings are contradictory. Therefore if you are using it to refer to gender (which you are in any sentence that refers to maternity services and implies that people other than women give birth), you cannot be referring to sex.

If you are using it to refer to gender and not sex, you are excluding many, many women because regardless of how many times you say 'women' you aren't referring to sex, but a sexist idea of what a woman should be.

That's because you feel like including people who dont identify as women somehow diminished care for people that do. You can't provide a logical argument for how that would work.

Much of our literature aimed at parents of under 5s is inclusive of same sex families. The language used often reflects that in ways that could be similarly ambiguous to an immigrant who isn't accustomed to same sex parenting. Should we also heteronormalise that literature since there are way more hetero parents than same sex parents? Or should we integrate them into our society but reminding them that we find homosexual relationships and parenting equally acceptable in this country and homosexual people are entitled to the same level of holistic care and support as any other family?

I an aware of your beliefs. I am saying that many if not all trans identifying people don't believe that sex and gender are the same thing. So your idea that they are encompassed by woman as they can conceive isn't accurate from their perspective.

Sadly, this language is not just confined to Bristol. I raised this with our local town council as they were using a diversity and equality policy that has been created by SLCC, an organisation which represents clerks at over 5,000 councils in England and Wales.
https://www.slcc.co.uk/

The section pregnancy or maternity currently reads as follows:
/////
We will
-Ensure that people are treated with respect and dignity and that a positive image is promoted regardless of pregnancy or maternity
/////

This is important because town council clerks will invariably uncritically copy paste adopt the draft templates provided by SLCC.

I tried to raise this with my own town council in February 2025 but was told
///
Your feedback was shared with the R&P Committee at the meeting last night and as the policy was drafted by SLCC, it was agreed to leave the wording as it is.
////

So, unless SLCC change their wording -
many, many other town councils won’t.

If anyone can help provide me with the wording I need to push this forward with SLCC, I’d gladly take up the baton. Thank you

The way the literature is phrased allows for individuals to pick the term that they feel resonates with them for their individualised reasons..so it is apt for me as a service user because I feel my sex is "woman". Someone else who is pregnant might feel that sex isn't a thing, but their gender identity is "woman" and so they feel similarly represented by the term. Another person might feel that they don't have a sex or gender so "pregnant person" refers to them.

Lofty is saying we should have sexist maternity services because a small number of women who buy into regressive sexist gender stereotypes demand it on the basis of their mental health, regardless of how this undermines the service and the mental health of all the other women using the service.

Removing the sex based meaning of words and regressively saying that gender is more important undermines women's health across the board, but don't let that get in the way of a sexist idea.

This does not happen with men's health.

We know why. Women are easier to bully into this shite and are expected to suck it up.

The answer is no.

Whether they feel they have a sex or not they biologically do.

and if they’re up the duff, they’re women.

You'd have to prove that including people who are pregnant but don't identify as women is sexist. I dont think anyone has done that successfully.

The answer is still no from me too.

And you’d think a health professional would understand the importance of consent.

Thats a personal opinion that wouldn't be apt to share with someone you are providing midwifery care to.

You can’t be pregnant as an human unless you are a woman. The word means adult human female.

And words and definitions matter.

And it’s still no from me.

So someone needs to seek your consent to be called the terms they prefer and be included in the maternity services they are entitled to? How does that make sense?

Shall I ask bed 9 right now if it is okay if I call bed 5 "she"?

Sorry but individuals having a sex is a personal opinion?

on. What. Planet.

No because a bed isn’t an adult human female.

HTH.

Thats a personal opinion that would be inappropriate to force into a service user in the NHS. Just like it would be for me to object against their JW religion.

Well I'm not going to tell you their names!

Then the NHS has gone nuts.

Men cannot get pregnant. Biology matters.

Yes it would be inappropriate to tell someone that they have a sex and it is woman. Also irrelevant to their care.

Why would you want to argue this with someone expecting a baby? While you're at work!