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This post is part of the Stand up for single-sex services campaign |

Mumsnet calls for government to make the Equality Act clear

Mumsnet manifesto says protect single-sex services

The first ever Mumsnet manifesto urges the next government to define what a woman is in the Equality Act and to guarantee access to single-sex services.

The manifesto warns that the definition of “sex” in the law is currently unclear, which could put services such as women-only refuges and prisons at risk. It calls on the next government to:

“amend the Equality Act to make it clear that ‘sex’ refers to biological sex, thus protecting women’s right to access female-only spaces such as hospital wards, changing rooms and refuges.”

The Equality Act ask is one of 12 in the document, based on the major concerns expressed by Mumsnet’s nine million users over the past four and a half years.

Since it was created, Mumsnet has been a place where women can seek support from other women in the most difficult of situations. Our data shows that around a thousand women a year are helped out of abusive relationships with the support of other Mumsnet users, and women frequently share harrowing accounts of the violence perpetrated against them by men. We know that for many users, these experiences underline the importance of women being able to access single-sex spaces like women-only refuges. However, confusion over the definition of sex in the Equality Act has led to a lack of clarity in the provision of single-sex spaces. The next government should amend the Equality Act to make it clear that “sex” refers to biological sex thus protecting women’s right to access female-only spaces such as hospital wards, changing rooms and refuges.

Mumsnet has been the go-to site for politicians seeking to canvass the political opinions of women and mothers in previous elections. In the 2010 general election the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats had live chats on on the site answering questions on women’s issues, the economy and childcare alongside the favourite biscuit question. 

As one of our supporters said, Mumsnet is the biggest doorstep in the country.

Filed under Stand up for single-sex services