Category: law

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law Public Sector

I asked why my work policies misrepresented the Equality Act – I was told must not speak to anyone any further

I was taken aside by my manager and instructed that I must not speak to anyone  regarding this issue any further.

It matters to me as a feminist and as a woman that women’s specific issues and inequality should be addressed and discussed and I believe that this is not possible if male people are included and centred in the category “women”.

I have written to and met with my MSP, posted on social media, donated to crowdfunders for women litigating, attended meetings.

I asked my work why they misrepresented the Equality Act in their policies.

I was taken aside by my manager and instructed that I must not speak to anyone  regarding this issue any further.

Maria , Scottish local government officer

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law

I am careful with content and tone even on my anonoymous twitter account

As a feminist all my life I feel we have sleep walked into a very worrying situation. As a teenager and young woman I was very active in feminism. Family and professional life then intervened and I took my eye off the ball. Things were good for me – a supportive stay at home husband who looks after the kids and good career progression and support at work – yes some stereotypes and bias but on the whole good. I naively  assumed things were getting better. But I suddenly woke up to find that women’s rights are eroding not getting better. My lived experience and the biases and prejudices I have battled all my life are not recognised.

The issues that arise from my biology – periods, pregnancy, birth, breast feeding, time off for babies – are ignored.

What makes me a woman is my biology not my feelings. I have battled sex based stereotypes all my life – and now find they define what it means to be a woman. Being a woman is not about make up and heels and clothes. My daughter could be expected to change in Top Shop next to a man or compete against a boy or use the same toilet as a man.

I am so not transphobic- I am a liberal leftie type who has always supported minorities and oppressed groups and now I am the transphobe because I believe in biology. Seriously?

I have discussed with colleagues, family and friends and have spoken out anonymously on twitter

I was initially open on Twitter but was cautious and exercised a lot of self censorship particularly after seeing Twitter pile ons and also observing some people being subject to letter campaigns to their employers. My job is safe – I am a partner in a law firm and virtually impossible to sack plus I am close to the end of my career anyway- but I am responsible for a team of people who rely on me to bring in client work and it would not be hard for a TRA to work out the names of the major corporations we act for and approach them to say that their lawyer is a transphobe. So I was cautious.

But then I was spoken to by the head of our LGBT+ group who said it had been brought to his attention that my tweets “supported the women’s perspective” and that it might have a “potential impact on transgender colleagues who are not yet open”. 

As a result I set up an anonymous Twitter account. I very occasionally like GC content from my open account but only occasionally. I am still careful with content and tone even with my GC account as it would be possible to work out that I am a lawyer and someone could still approach my regulator who would have the power to find out who I am should anyone complain. 

George , woman, mother, leftie feminist lawyer

Categories
law

I am concerned about protecting single-sex prisons and hospital wards

This matters to me because I am worried about young girls making irreversible decisions about their bodies. I am also concerned about protecting single-sex spaces such as prisons and hospital wards.

I co-signed a letter, joined a group, challenged various organisations on their policies, supported LGB Alliance and spoken up on Twitter and Facebook.

I have received vicious attacks on Twitter from anonymous accounts and been verbally attacked by another barrister.

Charlotte, Barrister

Categories
law

Training organisations and lobbying groups are providing incorrect guidance on law

I am a discrimination solicitor. i am concerned about firstly that training organisations and lobbying groups are providing incorrect guidance on the current law re equality and diversity with regard to how to address potential conflicts between rights of trans people and those of people who fall within different protected classes and the exceptions relating to sex based rights in the Equality Act. In addition with regard to proposed amendments to Gender Recognition act no proper discussion or analysis was done to consider any adverse effects of law change on who came within definition of women in s 11 Equality Act and consequently on any impact on ability to prove sex discrimination and equal pay claims

I am vocal on social media trying to put my interpretation of the law and related policy. I have spoken at the Womens Place Conference on how to properly undertake Equality Impact Assessment

I have been the subject of two formal complaints to my employers, Trustees of a respected local charity which I manage.

These resulted in correspondence and short considerations before being rejected by the Trustees. Another complaints were made to our largest funder, the National Lottery, who after considering my personal twitter feed took no action.  Finally a complaint was made to my charity’s national network group. This is despite me not making direct reference to my employer in my twitter profile. I also left a local feminist group when it was made clear that people who were gender critical were not welcome

Audrey Ludwig, Practising Solicitor

Categories
law Lesbians

I care about this issue because women’s oppression is a direct consequence of our biological sex

.  If sex is redefined to mean sex role stereotypes in language and law sex-based discrimination will not end but our linguistic and legal tools to address it will disappear. 

I have taken part in demonstrations, gone to meetings, spoken to friends, strangers and work colleagues, raised the issue at work, written letters, contributed to government consultations, written to all-party parliamentary groups etc.

I have been socially ostracised. I have lost friends, been banned from lesbian events, as well as, online and offline lesbian spaces and lost a job.

Jess Silverstone

Categories
law

The biggest issue for me is telling the truth

The biggest issue for me is telling the truth. We all know that sex is binary, and has real world consequences; but in increasingly widespread contexts, it is becoming unacceptable to say that. Forcing people to lie is a particularly objectionable form of bullying.

Privacy, consent and safety come next. An important part of the background to this is how viciously standards of modestly are policed against women and girls, and how much victim-blamimg goes on. Women are trained from infancy to be afraid of men, and to act as if any man may be a sexual predator; and to feel at fault if their efforts to keep themselves safe fail. And then  – on the whim of an obvious male wearing feminine clothing – sometimes exaggeratedly so, sometimes positively pornified  – we are expected to abandon in an instant those instincts that have been so brutally trained into us or else be labelled bigots.

The ‘only affirm’ approach to gender dysphoria, especially in young people, is also profoundly worrying. We do not affirm anorexics in their belief that their bodies are wrong; we treat the mental distress. Medical or surgical transition should be a last resort treatment for dysphoria; but that view is labelled  – in a dishonest parallel with homosexuality – as ‘conversion therapy.’  We can tell that the analogy with homosexuality is false because homosexuality requires no treatment, medical or psychiatric.

I have done all the things listed in the survey.

I haven’t had any negative consequences.

Naomi Cunningham, Employment and discrimination barrister