Updates • Page 12

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To see updates organised by topic, go to Where sex matters. Click on a tag at the end of any update to see other updates and resources with the same tag.

Watching the watchdogs

The job of the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) is to hold Government to account on equality law and policy, particularly the Equality Act 2010. It also scrutinises the equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Committee has received over 2,000 submissions in its current inquiry...

6th April 2021
The Gender Wars, Academic Freedom and Education

Guest blog post by Professors Alice Sullivan and Judith Suissa

25th March 2021
Sex, gender and medical data: a way forward

Susan Bewley, Margaret McCartney, Catherine Meads and Amy Rogers published an article in the British Medical Journal calling for clarity about sex and gender in medical records and data.

This "rapid response" from Sex Matters co-founder Maya Forstater was published online by the BMJ.

23rd March 2021
NHS: let’s talk about sex

This tweet by Emma Parnell, Lead Service Designer at NHS Digital, and the associated Medium post “Let’s Talk About Sex” is interesting. Parnell writes in detail about how she worked to remove the question of whether a patient is male or female from the online system for booking COVID...

20th March 2021
Sex (or gender?) as a hate crime: why the rush?

The push to adopt a gender neutral definition of “misogyny” as a hate crime with amendment 87B to the Domestic Abuse Bill (being debated this afternoon in the House of Lords) is another attempt at the political erasure of sex. Why the rush when the Law Commission is working...

17th March 2021
Stonewalling the Domestic Violence Bill: Why make “misogyny” gender neutral?

A short month ago there was an attempt to rush a bill through parliament that would set a precedent of “gender neutralising” motherhood in law; replacing the words mother or woman with “pregnant person” in the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances (MOMA) Bill. As Baroness Noakes highlighted, this is...

13th March 2021
Census guidance on the sex question ruled unlawful

Census day is 21 March 2021. Yesterday, in a challenge brought by Fair Play For Women, the High Court ordered the Office for National Statistics to correct the guidance they provide online about how to answer the question “What is your sex?” Until yesterday, the guidance for the 2021...

10th March 2021
Two new scientific reviews agree that transwomen athletes retain male advantage

The debate around inclusion of transgender athletes – and in particular whether biological males who identify as women should play in female sporting competitions and teams – is a fraught one. On one hand are those who advocate for fairness, and protection for the female category in sport; on...

7th March 2021
Huddersfield University apologises for “transphobic tweets” investigation

Huddersfield university has been forced to apologise and pay compensation to a PhD student after they subjected him to a lengthy disciplinary investigation over “transphobic” tweets. The University investigated Jonny Best for six months after a fellow student made an anonymous complaint about things he had written online. Best,...

7th March 2021
Call for Evidence on Women’s Health

The UK government has launched a 12 week call for evidence on women’s health and care to understand women’s experiences and form the basis of a new Women’s Health Strategy. The 6 core themes included in the call for evidence are: Placing women’s voices at the centre of their...

7th March 2021
Crispin Blunt MP ordered to apologise for breach of parliamentary rules over attempt to make secret deal on self-ID

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found that the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global LGBT+ rights, which Blunt chairs, has not been adequately transparent. The main focus of the investigation was a position paper on gender self ID developed by the APPG, in consultation with transgender lobby groups. The...

7th March 2021
Welcome to Sex Matters

A launch message from Rebecca Bull, Naomi Cunningham, Maya Forstater and Emma Hilton.

21st February 2021
Allison Bailey’s case against Stonewall will proceed

Allison Bailey is suing Stonewall Diversity Limited to stop them policing free speech. She is a barrister and helped to set up a new organisation for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, the LGB Alliance, to provide an alternative to Stonewall. In retaliation, Stonewall had her investigated by her chambers....

19th February 2021
Toilets – a place where sex matters

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is undertaking a technical review on increasing accessibility and provision of toilets for men and women. We submitted a 60 page briefing . The submission is long, because the issue of who can use which toilets has become overly complicated and...

19th February 2021
ONS reverses decision to ask clear sex question on the census

The ONS has reversed its decision not to allow self-identified answers to the sex question in next month’s Census. On 22 January, 2021 The UK’s Chief Statistician, Professor Ian Diamond, confirmed on BBC Radio 4’s Today program the question “what is your sex” should be answered according to someone’s LEGAL SEX,...

12th February 2021
Martina Navratilova seeks fair rules over women’s sport

Martina Navratilova and other sportswomen have launched a campaign to amend US President Biden’s Executive Order which demands sports participation based on gender identity. The Women’s Sports Policy Working Group is proposing a carve out at the “higher level” of High School, College and elite sport. “There have been...

3rd February 2021
General Medical Council: Sex Self ID by doctors

The General Medical Council allows doctors to change their recorded “gender” (which they record in place of sex) through a simple process of Self ID. Doctors who change their name and their recorded gender get a new GMC number. Two separate register entries will appear on the medical register....

5th January 2021
GRA Reform: Evidence to the Women and Equality Select Committee

We submitted evidence to the Women and Equality Select Committee's Inquiry into Reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

4th January 2021