The new WI equality, diversity and inclusion policy - it’s worse and includes the thought police

[Marmaladelover]

This is the new EDI policy all WIs have to sign and agree .

The last one was bad enough , the new one discriminates against anyone who doesn’t think Transwomen are women. Please note the sentence
We expect all those who engage in the WI movement to uphold the same values.

I am furious! So what to do about it ?

Main bits I disagree with copied below

Our inclusion of transgender women in activities outside of membership is based on our belief that being a woman is about biology and lived experience

One of the objectives

• Highlight and celebrate the diverse membership of the WI, and ensure that our wider movement offers support and fellowship to all women, including transgender women and others.

Aside from WI membership, we offer other ways to engage with the WI movement, locally, regionally and nationally, including being a WI Supporter and belonging to one
of our Sisterhood groups. We expect all those who engage in the WI movement to uphold the same values.

11. Transgender inclusion
The WI is an inclusive, supportive, and progressive organisation that offers different ways to engage in our movement for members and non-members. The WI provides
educational opportunities and the platform to campaign on important issues, whilst celebrating the WI’s long history of trans inclusion, and embracing the sisterhood and
solidarity of our movement.
Transgender women are welcomed to a range of local and national activities that are open to non-members, as well as our national Supporter scheme. Based on the WI’s
history of trans inclusion, we believe that including transgender women in these activities enriches our organisation to ensure we are a place for both biological women and transgender women to celebrate who they are and influence positive change in their communities.

Please can anyone explain to me how the WI can simultaneously respect gender critical beliefs and expect members to uphold their, oh dear, I can't be polite, so I'll say Cyber-WI as in you will be like us?

Or am I adding Alice in Wonderland where the Red Queen could believe 10 impossible things before breakfast to my literary streak?

Although maybe they will finally be able to answer what "living as a woman" actually means, and why this "living as a woman" thing, a thing that according to the WI and others who include transwomen in their definition of "women" can be experienced by people of either sex, has any relevance whatsoever to the specific needs, experiences and reality of people of female body.

Yes a club for doing womanning better.

TBH, if these Sisterhood meetings are going to be all about how to do womanning properly, they are going to be very dull.

I don’t give a toss about the best skirts go spinny and nail varnish, I want to know how to make a hat out of kitchen implements (which my old village WI used to do).

Some members of the WI where I am a member have already flounced. 4 or 5. Others are awaiting the Sisterhood. They can't see that TWAW does not sit with having a women's refuge (for biological women only) as charity of the year. I can't decide whether to renew or not in April.

The leadership can get it right. Below is a current campaign of the type of interest that attracted me. I don't knit, bake etc. The WI put a lot of work into looking more modern and current. Men have no lived experience of ovarian cancer (another campaign) or this:

Biologically, women have unique oral health challenges, leading to women having poorer oral health in comparison to men over their lifetime. Women’s saliva tends to be more acidic than men’s, increasing the rate of dental decay in their mouths. Changing hormone levels during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause can also raise the risk of problems in women’s mouths, teeth, or gums.
In a patriarchal system women are disproportionately responsible for the care load of their household, including being responsible for the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Women are therefore often responsible for the health of both younger and older family relatives, including their oral health. With NHS dental appointments becoming harder to obtain, women are bearing financial, temporal, physical, and mental health burdens for not only themselves but also their loved ones. https://www.thewi.org.uk/campaigns/key-and-current-campaigns/dental-health-matters

They’ve certainly done a through job of infiltration. Who knew our institutions and organisations were so vulnerable to the takeover of reality denying ideologues?

I'd be happy to go along and share my experiences of living as a woman.

It won't take long. Under one second, I imagine.

I actually think it would be useful to have a bunch of blokes turn up and ask how to go about living as a woman. Put them on the spot

'monthly opportunities for all people, including transgender women, to come together to socialise, learn from each other, and share their experiences of living as women'

What is a transwoman going to teach women about living as women that women don't know by ... living as women? How to deal with a ladyboner while tucking?

It really is framing women as support humans for these men isn't it? How many women have previously been invited to "share their experiences of living as a women" with other women?
Maybe discussions about women's health issues, pregnancy, giving birth, breastfeeding? Parenting our children, mental health issues, VAWG or even sharing our professional expertise on a range of issues? But "living as a woman" Seriously?

That's the role the WI think women must fulfil for these men? All those years of women's suffrage and the WI reduce women to teaching disordered men about womanhood.

They're not the brightest of thinkers in the WI are they?

No man can have any experience of what it’s like to live as a woman - all they can do is perform their toxically stereotypical idea of femininity - a stereotype that actual women have spent decades fighting free from.

Maybe the WI would like to make a group where I can share my experience of living as a cat? It is every bit as plausible as a man telling us how to woman correctly.

It demonstrates, yet again, that no one believes they are women. It's actually more patronising and 'othering' than recognising them openly as men.

Maybe the WI would like to make a group where I can share my experience of living as a cat?

I'll be honest I'd sign up for that 😁

I’ve received my email about this today. I honestly don’t know what to do. I love my little WI, and I don’t want to leave. But it feels as though I’m being compelled to affirm something I don’t believe.

A couple of hours ago I was all for refusing to sign but now I’m feeling as though I would be walking away from something I really enjoy and should I let them bully me into that when the substantive issue is resolved since the SC ruling.

Feeling really torn.

The content maybe irrelevant, do you really want to belong to an organisation that is compelling you to sign something you know to be wrong. Have you had a chat with anyone else in your group, maybe everyone else feels the same way, you could send a response back to HQ stating your branch wasn't prepared to sigh a 'pledge' because you don't live in communist China.

The WI need much better lawyers.

Stay. I'm going to join & be thoroughly obstreperous on this topic whenever I can. I've heard on the grapevine that one WI near here fell apart due the the lads, I'm damned if I'm going to let them trash the whole thing. That's their MO, "Gimme, or I'll break it & nobody can have it".
No.

The WI used to be a force to be reckoned with. My mum was proud to be a member.

Now they are just an embarrassment.

I feel the same.
On a local level this isn't an issue.
But I really despise the national leadership right now.

Another feeling the same. I’d just about decided to renew in April, because I want to support my small group but now I’ve swithered right back to how can I support National, and have my share of fees that go to National used for this.

The references throughout to “transgender women”, by which they mean trans-identifying men. The WI is intended for women only.

I wonder if, come April, when all the men actually leave this will all die down and the WI can get on with doing what the membership want? I think this is them kicking over a chair on their way out of the door.

If you are in the WI and have 'gender critical views', now is the time to speak up about it. Write to head office and let them know how you feel. Plenty of trans rights activists are very loud - women who dont want to bow to the orthodoxy must also speak up. They only win by bullying. Dont let them.

Like others, I am struggling with whether to renew my membership. DH and DD think it would be horribly hypocritical to do so, but I'm sure if I 'flounce' I will be counted as one who disagreed with the new eligibility criteria. When I did contact NFWI last year with my views this must have been what happened, as the reply I received was along the lines of 'we are all disappointed with the ruling'.

I want to hear more about this hat...