Single sex services • Page 3
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Labour should call for a pause before voting on the gender recognition bill in Scotland
Sex Matters has sent an urgent open letter to Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, and Jackie Baillie MSP, calling on Labour MSPs to demand more time to consider the implications of the Haldane opinion before voting on the Gender Recognition Reform bill (Scotland). The Labour Party,...
16th December 2022
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Clarify the Equality Act: sign the petition
The Equality Act 2010 protects everyone’s rights and covers everything from schools to hospitals, pubs to sports, and everybody’s workplace. It includes protection against sex-discrimination, and allows single-sex services. But on 13th December a judge in Scotland pronounced that Equality Act does not recognise biological sex as a protected...
16th December 2022
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Woman’s Place UK (WPUK)
Grassroots feminist campaign formed in 2017 by women with backgrounds in trade-union and broader social movements. Aim was to ensure women’s voices would be heard in the consultation on proposals for self-identification and to uphold single-sex exceptions. Played a large role in getting government plans to reform the Gender...
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Why Sex Matters is calling for clarification of the Equality Act 2010 – a briefing
Sex Matters has launched a petition calling on the government to clarify that in the Equality Act 2010, “sex” means biological sex, and is not modified by the Gender Recognition Act 2004. This would protect the rights of people of both sexes, as well as people who identify as...
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Trans rights are human rights!
Sex Matters is a human-rights organisation. We believe that universal human rights form a powerful framework for thinking about how a diversity of freedoms can be respected, while protecting against harm and maintaining an open and prosperous society. It is sometimes argued that those who call for clarity on...
9th November 2022
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Why sex matters for human rights – our organisational framework
Sex Matters’ mission is to promote clarity on sex in law and policy in order to protect everybody’s human rights. This document sets out the key human rights that are relevant, and why and how our work is guided by the promotion of human rights. (Also see our short guide...
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Toilets Matter: a Sex Matters webinar
Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce of Sex Matters were joined by journalist Rose George, author of The Big Necessity, on 18th November 2022 in the run-up to World Toilet Day.
8th November 2022
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Petition champions
After just three days we were over a quarter of the way to the 100,000 signatures needed to prompt a parliamentary debate. We’ve now got more than 40,000 signatures. Thank you to everyone who has already signed the Make the Equality Act Clear Petition. Every signature helps! If everyone...
5th November 2022
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We call for a “Cass Review for Education”
Sex Matters together with Bayswater Support Group, Fair Play For Women, LGB Alliance, Safe Schools Alliance and Transgender Trend have written to the new Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, to draw her attention to the problem of gender ideology being promoted in schools. We ask her to:...
1st November 2022
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Letter to Gillian Keegan
We wrote to Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, calling for a “Cass Review” for schools.
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Sex Matters writes to MSPs
Tomorrow 27th October is the Stage 1 debate on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill by the Scottish Parliament. Sex Matters has written to MSPs and sent them a copy of our “Sex and the Law” booklet. Equality law remains an area which is reserved for UK wide legislation, yet...
26th October 2022
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Don’t water down the schools guidance – a plea from a 14-year-old girl
“Cynthia”, 14, writes… I recently read in The Times that Ministers were seeking a “compromise” concerning the Department for Education’s long-awaited transgender schools’ guidance and, as a 14-year-old-girl in secondary school, to say I am furious is an understatement. It is absolutely vital that we – teenage girls who...
19th October 2022
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Toilets matter – a short guide to law and good practice
For any organisation that provides toilets for customers, visitors, staff or students – this guide will help you think through your choices, identify risks of discrimination and harassment, and provide clarity to users.
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Caring about Dignity
A group of campaigners, carers, healthcare professionals and parents of children receiving care formed in 2023. Their aim is to collect the stories of those who receive care in their own home or in residential homes, to amplify their voices. Those stories reveal the widespread issues about dignity in...
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Reclaiming Kenwood Ladies’ Pond for women
Take action: if you have experience to share as a Ladies’ Pond user let us know using the survey. The Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath is an iconic open-air single-sex service in London that was changed to running on the basis of gender self-ID, without consideration for women...
29th August 2022
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The Attorney General clarifies the law on single-sex services
On 10th August 2022 the Attorney General Suella Braverman gave a speech at the think-tank Policy Exchange. She noted that both public and private bodies are struggling to understand their obligations in relation to single-sex services and the protected characteristics of sex and gender reassignment. Her speech aimed to...
26th August 2022
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Sex and the law – share our short guide
What does intersex mean? Are you allowed to mention someone’s sex if they don’t want you to? Has someone with a gender recognition certificate changed their sex? Do you have the right to privacy when you’re taking your clothes off? Is it discrimination to keep male people out of...
4th August 2022
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If you can’t say sex, how can you say sexual harassment?
An employment tribunal in Leeds has handed down judgment in a case involving catering staff at a Sheffield NHS Hospital Trust. A female employee reported that a male colleague had asked her to go into a private room and then had quipped about removing his underwear. Another reported having...
20th July 2022
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Why do single-sex services matter?
In February 2022 Sex Matters undertook a survey to find out why single-sex services matter to people. The response was astonishing. In a little over a week we received over 7,000 replies, nine out of ten of them from women. Many included details about how the loss of everyday...
19th July 2022
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Why single-sex services matter: privacy, dignity, safety and choice (full report)
Full report (133 pages): see also 30-minute read and key findings. Over the past few years many single-sex services and spaces have been changed to mixed sex, but few of the people who use them have been asked how they feel about this. Our report amplifies those voices.
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Why single-sex services matter: privacy, dignity, safety and choice (key findings)
Key findings: see also full report (133 pages) and 30-minute read. Over the past few years many single-sex services and spaces have been changed to mixed sex, but few of the people who use them have been asked how they feel about this. Our report amplifies those voices.
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Why single-sex services matter: privacy, dignity, safety and choice (30-minute read)
30-minute read: see also full report (133 pages) and key findings. Over the past few years many single-sex services and spaces have been changed to mixed sex, but few of the people who use them have been asked how they feel about this. Our report amplifies those voices.
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JK Rowling backs parents told disabled daughter did not have right to female-only care
Louisa Clarence-Smith for The Telegraph Naomi Cunningham is quoted in this article. Harry Potter author warns that special school’s cross-gender policy on intimate assistance endangers 'extremely vulnerable girls'.
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Groups defending sex-based rights
Overview of groups opposing sex self-ID in the UK, set up by individuals and collectives concerned by the failure of established third-sector organisations to defend women’s sex-based rights, child safeguarding and evidence-based policymaking. Also listed on our website.
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Sex Matters response to “More in Common”
More in Common is an organisation that seeks to “build societies and communities that are “stronger, more united, and more resilient to the increasing threats of polarisation and social division”. Perhaps as a response to this challenge from Maya Forstater, it has applied its approach to the gender wars....
16th June 2022
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Is the Attorney General wrong about the law, or is Stonewall?
The Department for Education is developing new guidance for schools on how to accommodate children who identify as transgender. Attorney General Suella Braverman gave an interview which suggests that the guidance will be based on the principle that children who identify as transgender have not changed sex, and therefore...
29th May 2022
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Attorney General clarifies the law for schools
In an interview with the Times, Suella Braverman said schools should treat children according to their sex, not their self-identified gender. Sex Matters welcomes Braverman’s comments, which align with Sex Matters’ guidance. The Department for Education is currently drawing up new guidance for schools. Braverman said: “Under-18s cannot get a...
27th May 2022
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Yes, sex DOES matter in changing rooms
Following our blog post, more than 1,500 customers wrote to Monsoon to tell them why female-only changing rooms are important. Here’s one letter: “Dear Monsoon,What on earth are you thinking? Please get a sense of proportion here. The vast majority of your customers are female and will not take...
13th May 2022
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Self-ID: tell the Scottish Parliament your views!
When the Gender Recognition Act came into force in 2004, it was a single regime for the UK. The Scottish Executive at the time considered whether Scotland should have separate legislation, but rejected this approach due to “cross-border anomalies”. In 2019 the UK government stepped back from its plan...
3rd May 2022
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Statutory Codes of Practice under review
On 27th April 2022, at a seminar on single-sex services and the Equality Act 2010, at Matrix Chambers, Equality and Human Rights Commissioner Akua Reindorf shared news that the EHRC is reviewing the statutory Codes of Practice. This responds to concern that the new guidance on single-sex and separate-sex...
29th April 2022
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![“We make it really clear to all women when they access [the service] that there is the potential for trans women to be in that group and that that’s just how it is.” Service provider cited in the research supporting the Survivors' Network letter](https://sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Survivors-Network-letter.png)
Single-sex services: the Survivors’ Network response
On 4th April 2022 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued new guidance on the law on single and separate-sex services, making clear that services for women don’t have to include trans-identifying males. This has been widely welcomed by leaders of women’s organisations in discussions we have been having,...
27th April 2022
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Analysis of the open letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission from the Survivors’ Network
On 4th April 2022 the EHRC issued new guidance on the law on single-sex and separate-sex services, which was widely welcomed by women’s organisations. But Survivors’ Network (supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse in Sussex) published an open letter criticising the new guidance. This briefing considers its contents.