Labour Women’s Declaration

Statement in support of Rosie Duffield MP

#WeStandWithRosieDuffield

It should not take courage to speak about women – our sex and our bodies – nor to insist on our right to organise as women and defend our legal protections.

Yet this is 2020. And this is the Labour Party.

But, at last, we can celebrate the bravery of Rosie Duffield, the first Labour Party MP at Westminster to challenge the erasure of the female sex in public life – the cost of adhering to “gender identity” – and her commitment to speaking on behalf of all women, in and beyond the labour movement. read more

Facebook

Twitter

Joint statement on Govt responsibility to uphold women’s sex-based rights

Labour Women’s Declaration is proud to stand in solidarity with the women who have campaigned for women’s sex-based rights across political parties and in the wider women’s liberation movement.

Together with the women of Woman’s Place UK, FiLia, Fair Play for Women, the Institute of Feminist Thought, Women Uniting, SNP Women’s Pledge, WEP Women’s Sex-Based Rights Caucus, Green Feminists, the Conservative Women’s Pledge, and the Liberal Democrats Sex-Based Rights Declaration we call on the government to ensure that women everywhere benefit in everyday life from the provisions made in the Equality Act 2010 to counter sexism and violence against women and girls, particularly with respect to single-sex spaces and services for women and girls. We know that this matters greatly to women, and we will continue to fight for women’s sex-based rights. read more

Facebook

Twitter

Labour Peers speak up for women

Today’s urgent questions in the House of Lords saw three Labour Peers, speak up for women. Lord Triesman, Lord Young of Norwood Green and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath all expressed their satisfaction that the government has responded sensibly to the GRA consultation. Lord Triesman spoke out against the vilification of women such as JK Rowling who express the view that women’s rights can be exercised on the basis of biological sex, while Lord Young and Lord Hunt pressed the government on the question of what guidance it will issue to ensure organisations understand and implement existing law in relation to the single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act. Many organisations and institutions have already changed their policies and practices in anticipation of legal changes and on advice that misinterprets the law, so it is crucial that the government acts to clarify how the exemptions can be applied and properly enforced. read more

Facebook

Twitter

Thank you Marsha De Cordova

“What will the Minister do to ensure that all public bodies including the Government Equality Office and the Equality & Human Rights Commission produce statutory guidance which is in keeping with the legislation?”

Sincere thanks to Marsha De Cordova, Labour Shadow Secretary for Women and Equalities, for asking this crucial question in support of Labour’s 2019 manifesto pledge “Ensure that the single-sex-based exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2010 are understood and fully enforced in service provision” read more

Facebook

Twitter

LWD response to GRA parliamentary Q&A session

Labour Women’s Declaration working group, representing those who aim to uphold women’s sex-based rights within Labour and Labour policy, were disappointed to follow the ‘urgent questions’ session with Liz Truss and hear so many MPs, from all parties, attack the Minister for Women and Equalities regarding her statement on Tuesday about changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

Many of the MPs who spoke repeated that ‘trans rights are human rights’, as if human rights were being denied by not permitting individuals to change their legal sex and acquire a new birth certificate through nothing more than self-declaration. Changing legal sex is a serious matter and not one that should be undertaken lightly, so it is reassuring that Truss’s statement and the government’s response to the consultation recognises this, by acknowledging the need for checks and balances whilst also being cognisant of the need for compassion and kindness in the system, in recognition that these are real lived experiences. read more

Facebook

Twitter

Response to Government GRA Statement

No substantial reform of the GRA process

Labour Women’s Declaration welcomes the decision not to proceed with changing the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) to permit self-identification as the only prerequisite for the granting of a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). The safeguarding of transitioning individuals demands proper checks and professional expertise, as is intended by the current provisions of the Act. Of course, only a small proportion of those who declare themselves transgender currently apply for a GRC, but the expectation of a legal self-identification route has led to policies across many institutions and businesses being devised on that basis. read more

Facebook

Twitter