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

Errr gender identity is entirely based on stereotypes which are sexist.

This is precisely why there is an inability to provide a legal definition of what gender is because they know it's sexist!

Stop spouting offensive bullshit.

This.

Sex is not a matter of opinion.

This is the problem.

The NHSs failure to recognise this is at the heart of the issue.

It's offensive.

That's because you feel like including people who dont identify as women somehow diminished care for people that do.

Sorry, but I feel I have to put this in caps, because this key piece of information doesn't seem to be getting through.

GENDER CRITICAL FEMINISTS DON'T IDENTIFY AS WOMEN.

WOMEN WHO IDENTIFY AS WOMEN CALL THEMSELVES 'CIS'.

WOMEN WHO IDENTIFY AS MEN CALL THEMSELVES TRANS MEN

WOMEN WHO IDENTIFY AS NEITHER MEN NOR WOMEN CALL THEMSELVES NON-BINARY (OR ANOTHER IDENTITY)

People on this board generally don't identify with any of these describers because they don't have any gender identity. Feminists believe gender is a societal imposition that oppresses women.

Do you understand that assuming that somebody identifies with a gender is a problem, and that when you use 'woman' to refer to gender, this is what you are doing?

To use your example, it's the equivalent of taking a neutral word like 'nursing', changed it's meaning in a way that some find offensive, and imposing its use on everyone?

Should we also heteronormalise that literature since there are way more hetero parents than same sex parents?

You are doing something similar when you use 'woman' to refer to a gendered identity. The only difference is that women aren't a minority - although that has never stopped them being oppressed.

I was actually in a council meeting recently where they called women, "Cis women" and the trans women (men), "Women". Ridiculous!!!

Why does your perception that the woman in "women and pregnant people" only refers to gender identity and not sex override the idea that each person can pick a term and decide why they feel it most resonates with them?

It doesnt say "woman(sex) and pregnant people (gender)". Those are you additions based on your individual feelings about the terms.

I see "woman" and think oh that means me and dont really think about whether its my sex or my gender. I just know that I tend to use the term sex over gender anyway.

Someone else may well see "woman" and think it's them because their gender is "woman".

There's a philosophical term for how and why we identify with the labels we do and it is individualised to the person..I learned this in my anthropology module at uni years ago.

Who says i am referring to a gendered identity? Youre drawing that conclusion. I see it as using the labels that maternity service users may well use.

This is the whole point - the language used by Bristol Council DOESN'T include people who are pregnant but don't identify as women - specifically the now nameless female people who don't have a gender identity.

Brilliant 😁😁😁

Personal identity is a matter of opinion and nearly always irrelevant to maternity care.

If the someone is pregnant, I’m pretty sure they actually know full well that their sex is female.

I am ever so glad I’m too old to get pregnant wherever it is that this nonsense is being spouted.

You did an anthropology module. Therefore you are going to use that to suggest you have superiority over everyone else here on the basis of your education.

Fuck that.

I have a degree in media. Language matters. It is about power and control.

Mens services don't get this shite. Only women's.

Women's health care is known to be poorer than mens because of institutionalised sexism within medicine. The 'i know better than you' attitude from HCP has been identified as part of that gap in levels of care. Women are not taken seriously in the same way as men. They are to be talked at, not with.

And you wonder why women identify out of womanhood???!

You are part of the problem.

What? I thought the problem was that it said to use gender neutral terms for everyone all the time, and I asked for proof and it was said to be a leak and there is no proof as of yet.

And there we have it.

Your biological sex is a matter of opinion.

is it fuck.

Well quite. Glad you agree we should just use the word woman and to hell with it then.

Right?

I did an anthropology module as part of my Midwifery degree where I learned how to provide holistic and safe care to anyone who is pregnant and their infants.

I have a law degree.

And the law says sex means woman. It’s not gender. There’s no ambiguity. The Supreme Court decided.

For women who want us to, yes. For anyone who doesn't, no.

Well bully for you.

Well done.

What do you want? A bloody tufty badge?

Language still matters. It's still about power and control. Regardless of what you studied in anthropology.

Women who are pregnant.

show me a biological man who is pregnant.

Arnold Swartne-whatsit in the movies doesn’t count.

The law has no bearing on what inclusive language we use for maternity users at all. In fact, since the ruling, they have ensured we know that we are still required to provide such care just in case anyone was confused.

Yes and thats exactly why we know using language that supports all maternity users is a superior approach to using language that excludes some of them. That is why we will probably add more terms before we remove any.

There aren't any and that's why your beliefs that men will be on maternity wards breastfeeding their babies is hyperbole.

Women should get equal levels of care.

Gender neutralising everything is known to disempower women and it's known to lead to worse levels of care for women.

So in terms of equality no we should not be doing this because the harms to women are much higher than to the tiny minority of a tiny minority of transmen who decide to get pregnant - keeping in mind many of this group will not even have the legal status of having reassigned their gender and will be merely 'identifying' as something they are not.

What is a matter of opinion is how you centre your own personal identity around your biological sex and/or anatomy. That's not the approach everyone takes.