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

😂

That's fine as a personal opinion. And as I've said, one that I agree with. But it wouldn't be appropriate to argue this with a maternity service user in your capacity as their clinical practitioner. You don't bring your opinions to work.

😂this would be hilarious if it wasn't also true <there aren't enough eye rolls in the world are there?>

It really is a warning to any of us who might have been tempted to vote green.

I agree with all of this - and the reason I would object to 'nursing' being coyly used in general literature is exactly the same reason I object to 'women and pregnant people'.

Does that make my objection easier to understand?

And thats fine as a personal opinion, but it would be unprofessional and inappropriate to share that with the service user because that isn't your job.

Why?

If they need maternity services and identify as something else then they are going to run into problems pretty quickly as they are going to have to deal with their sex.

There was a case recently where a woman was refused a GRC because she was trying for a baby, as it was argued she wasn't 'living as a man'.

And that's the crux of it. Men don't have babies. If you are pregnant and going to give birth you are not a man.

We should not be pandering to this tiny number of women who do this. If they have a problem with the mere word 'woman' then yes they need psychological support. But it doesn't mean we should change language because they can't cope with the word.

It is also fact. Men can't have babies. If doctors have stopped bringing facts to work then we are doomed.

No, because I don't understand why someone else wanting to be referred to as something other than woman speaks to any of us that do want to be referred to that way. I see it like being upset that some people choose caesareans (which some people are upset by). I dont see what it has to do with you if you're also included and able to access individualised care.

Many things are facts and also irrelevant to our jobs as midwives or OBs.

They dont have any problem with woman being used for women though.

But you'd have thought whether it is the man or the women who gives birth is one of the facts that would matter.

I chose to have a CS for mental health reasons.

I did not demand that references to giving birth via VB were erased from all literature supplied to me. I did not demand that everyone else changed their language.

Indeed it pissed me off that it was described as 'maternal request' when it wasn't a request as such and my notes said in big capital letters that it was for mental health and I was under the mental health team. I just had to suck up the phrasing I didn't like.

Lots more women would benefit from this classification change but nope, a fortune has been spent on trying to pretend that women are not women.

Honestly this argument can piss off. It's super shite and desperately offensive as a comparison.

And surely if your that confused the role should be midspouse?

Because I DON'T want to be referred to as 'woman' if what you mean by the word is 'person who identifies with cultural and societal expectations of how a man or woman should behave and present'. From my point of view if you do that you have effectively taken the word out of service.

I am NOT included if you do that, because you aren't using a word that has any relevance to me. You might as well say 'artichokes and trans men'.

I still need a clear unambiguous word that refers to my sex, but apparently that is no longer 'woman'.

I'm mystified that you can't understand this.

How....

...'generous'

patronising

Many of us are mystified.

They clearly do though, because apparently they are unable to understand that in a medical context it just refers to sex.

Break over but before I go, the problem with what youre all saying is that it is clear you want to try and punish these minority of maternity service users by ensuring they don't feel safe and supported by the NHS. That will aways be against the ethos of healthcare practitioners because this type of holistic, individualised approach to care is enshrined in all of our code of conducts. And to be honest, it is what we all want to receive as service users. We don't want personal opinions influencing our quality of care.

I'm now awaiting a full explanation of why women 'choose' to have a CS cos this will be enlightening.

The dripping bullshit and patronising misogynistic shite that comes from that conversation always is.

But they don't believe that sex and gender are the same thing so they don't feel included by woman in any sense but know they could be eligible for maternity services.

You want the NHS to effectively deny their self identity in order for them to access a decent standard of maternity care. They aren't asking for you to stop being called a woman, even if this random MP is.

As a nurse, there would be no "Arguing" by me. Once the trans male (biological Female) corrected me, it would never happen again. The problem is Trans people get SO ANGRY when you make a simple mistake. AND they don't have any problem with heterosexuals (male or female nurses in this case), offending biological (Cis-women), If we happened to mistakenly mislabel them (when they make up 99% of the population.

They need the appropriate care.

That's not being pandered to, when they have chosen to use the sex based reproductive function of their body which they seek to deny exists.

That's mental health support, not changing every bit of literature and correspondence to all women.

I was very much talked through things and wasn't allowed to go into denial about certain things during pregnancy because it was regarded as a red flag...

Lots of women have elective casareans for a multitude of reasons. It used to be really hard to "just choose" to have one until NICE strengthened their guidelines to ensure they could. When they did this, many people associated with maternity care in various capacities didn't like it because they felt it would harm people choosing the complete opposite (like a home birth) for some reason.

I could never understand how actually offering women fully informed choices could be a bad thing overall and it hasn't proven to be so far.

No, I have gone out of my way to say over and over again that you need to provide individualised care to patients.

We don't want personal opinions influencing our quality of care.

But that is exactly what organisations do when they impose gender ideology on language.