Val Garwood

Second wave feminist, mother, grandmother. Sex is real and it matters, especially for women. We cannot identify out of it. Women’s rights are #NotACultureWar

[Sex Matters @SexMattersOrg]

.@thetimes reports on councils that are refusing to comply with the law on sex-based rights.

Hackney is understood to have already been served with a formal legal challenge.

@MForstater: “It’s a disgrace that it should take the expense and personal cost of such legal action for women’s rights to simply be upheld.”
https://t.co/8qxEHAzKs7

[maggie mellon @maggiemellon]

Male “breastfeeding” group in Edinburgh - Amanda Hatton head of children’s services has responded to child protection concern.
“I have ensured the relevant professionals are taking this forward.”
We need to know that a joint social work and police investigation is taking place and that the men and children concerned have been identified.

[Women's Rights Network - WRN @WomensRightsNet]

Hmm. Who to support.
✅The MP dedicated to women's rights and tackling the harms of the exploitative prostitution industry?
❌Or the MP who wants to promote porn and believes that men have the right to access women's single sex spaces and services?
Well, this is the easiest choice. Of course it's @ToniaAntoniazzi . We're a women's rights group after all.

https://t.co/LIS5d2C57y

[SEEN in Health @SEENinHealth]

🚨 For months, many NHS organisations have said they were waiting for the EHRC's statutory Code of Practice before updating policies on single-sex facilities. This is despite their legal requirement to abide by the Equality Act 2010, regardless.

That Code is now in force. The law is clear, and public bodies should now be reviewing and implementing lawful policies that protect people's rights on the basis of biological sex.

We welcome comments from the Chair of the EHRC indicating that the Commission is prepared to use its regulatory powers where organisations fail to comply with the law. Accountability matters.

SEEN in Health will be gathering evidence from across the NHS of Trusts and Health Boards that have not updated their policies or continue to operate policies that do not reflect the law. Where appropriate, we will share this evidence with the EHRC.

Patients and NHS staff deserve lawful, clear and consistently implemented policies that protect privacy, dignity and safety.

@DHSCgovuk @NHSEngland @NHSScotland @NHSWales @EHRC @YvetteCooperMP @bphillipsonMP @AConstance23 @SexMattersOrg @ForWomenScot

[Akua Reindorf KC @akuareindorf]

It’s past time for politicians to stop blithely announcing that wholly contradictory things are all true and then demanding that someone else produces guidance on how to make impossible things happen

[Karen Ingala Smith @DrK_IngalaSmith]

I used to naively believe that politics and academia were fields for clever and brilliant people. Yes, of course I understood that class and sex advantages made a difference.
How disillusioned I am now.
Transgender identity ideology is a litmus test.

[Emine Ibrahim @Emina_ibrahim]

Lots of women in Haringey Labour currently picking up their jaws from the floor on massive u-turn from the previously expressed position of Cllr Mark Blake who always supported single sex spaces when he was a Labour Cllr. I can vouch for this as can other Cllrs and activists.

[Keep Left @rubylescott]

Do they understand that they can end up in court? I'm not sure they do. Extraordinary short sightedness. Not good qualities in a councillor. Where are the grown ups?

[Women's Rights Network Leeds @WRNLeeds]

First up, Haringey, whose leader Mark Blake 'strongly disagrees' with the code.

He states as an "inclusive society" the code doesn't reflect the "lived experience" of Haringey residents.

Has he asked the 51.9% of women in Haringey what they think?

[teresa smith @treesey]

Interesting use of official council comms to advertise an intention to disregard the Equality Act 2010. Who is in charge of legal affairs at @lambeth_council?

[Kirsteen Sullivan MP @kittysull1]

“You can’t ignore the guidance any more than you can ignore the law” 👏👏👏

[Emine Ibrahim @Emina_ibrahim]

@akuareindorf @STILLTish @lambeth_council @bphillipsonMP It’s also a massive u-turn from the previously expressed position to women in Haringey of Cllr Mark Blake who always supported single sex spaces when he was a Labour Cllr. I can vouch for this as can other Cllrs

[Akua Reindorf KC @akuareindorf]

@lambeth_council @bphillipsonMP This is deeply unserious performative politics. Not to mention very worrying for women & girls in your boroughs, in particular those who have experienced MVAWG, those with disabilities or who are elderly and those who have religious reasons for needing single sex spaces.

[SEEN in Health @SEENinHealth]

Sending @FayeRCTribunal all the very best for her remedy hearing. Your courage has spoken for countless women in NHS England who have fought to have their rights returned. We should never have had to fight in the first place. Women deserve respect in the workplace, not years of being silenced.
And for @NHSEngland: women are the majority of your workforce, yet too often we're treated as if our rights are optional. That era is over. It’s time to stop sidelining women and start listening to us.
#safetyanddignityforall #sexmatters

[Women o' Scotland @WomenOScotland]

But it’s not completely normal, is it? A man walking into women’s toilets when he knows it’s not right, when he knows he’s not supposed to be there, and when he knows he’s not welcome — that’s not normal; it’s a misogynistic assertion, it’s male dominance, it’s a tantrum. You’re not a ghost, ‘India’; those women saw you. If you were a woman, you’d understand why they said nothing. Well done for showing that you really are a man — a really self-entitled man 👏🏻🙄

[FayeRC @FayeRCTribunal]

Tomorrow, my employment tribunal case of Faye Russell-Caldicott aka LS v @NHSEngland will proceed to remedies hearing for two days. My case is about women’s single sex facilities, a very similar case to @nhsfife #SandiePeggie and @DarlingtonUnion.

[Genspect @genspect]

🇬🇧 Brighton Councillor Milla Gauge's principled resignation letter is an incredible read. She says she was repeatedly told not to pursue "urgent & credible" concerns about children questioning their gender and her safety concerns for women & girls were dismissed and ignored.

Ms. Gauge is the 8th @BrightonHoveCC Labour councillor to quit, sparking the 8th by-election.

https://t.co/jRKgvzYe9B

[Women in the Chilterns @WomenChilterns]

The EHRC services code of practice came into force today. Hopefully it will help to make sure that the Equality Act 2010 is fully adhered to, including the appropriate protection of single-sex services and facilities.

https://t.co/wCw3nruaWt

[Women's Rights Network - WRN @WomensRightsNet]

Any event, sport, activity, club, that says it’s for females must by law only include women and girls.

Numerous organisations say they’re for females-only but the small print indicates otherwise. We trust that the organisations listed here understand the risks in continuing to break the law…

First up… Festival of the Girl which says: “Gender stereotypes limit girls before they've had the chance to decide who they want to be.” Yes! We’re all in favour of broadening girls’ horizons.

But what’s this? An inclusivity statement:

“While we use the term “girl” to address the barriers that girls face at a young age, our mission is inclusive of trans and non-binary communities, and we encourage young people of any gender to take part.”

So Festival of the Girl (and boys as well).
1/5

[Emine Ibrahim @Emina_ibrahim]

When I served in cabinet with Cllr Mark Blake when he was Labour Cllr, this definitely was NOT view he expressed. Do you remember Mark? The safeguarding concerns you raised? trying to get items off the Staffing and Remuneration Committee agenda? I have a long
memory “comrade”.