Feminist activists and politicians have blasted Labour’s latest “careless” guidance on single sex spaces, urging the Government to scrap the document altogether.
In an adamant defence of women’s only spaces, journalist and gender activist Helen Joyce told the People’s Channel that the “legally illiterate” document was “misrepresenting and misunderstanding the Equality Act”.
Lecturer Michael Foran explained that the document suggested that “it is lawful to operate a single-sex service on a mixed-sex basis, determined by self-ID” and that it “fails to consider the prohibition on indirect discrimination and harassment”.
The guidance, published yesterday in response to a previous call for input from public bodies across the nation, has attracted a slew of criticism for its ambiguity on single-sex spaces and its failure to wholeheartedly defend women’s spaces.
Speaking to GB News, Joyce criticised the Government for its disregard of women’s efforts, adding that she was “absolutely livid” over the matter
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Campaign group Sex Matters’s Maya Forstater deemed it to be a “brush off” by the Government, labelling it as a “lazy kick in the teeth to women”.
Speaking to GB News, Joyce criticised the Government for its disregard of women’s stories, adding that she was “absolutely livid” over the matter.
“Hundreds or maybe thousands of women put thousands of hours of unpaid work into this, just to end up with this careless, badly written, legally illiterate from the Government today, misrepresenting and misunderstanding the Equality Act.”
“They should withdraw the statement they put out today. It’s an embarrassment,” she added.
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Discussing whether the protection of women’s spaces was perceived to be a priority for the Labour leader, Joyce said: “Keir Starmer, genuinely, I don’t think cares. I really don’t think he does.
“He’s a lawyer. He should understand that words have to have meanings in law, that you can’t say women only, and then let some men in. He has to understand that.”
Equally, Joyce criticised former PM Rishi Sunak’s record on the issue of gender, explaining: “He said, ‘I know what a woman is when they don’t.’
“That’s not good enough. You actually have to fix the law. You’re the Government.”
Shadow Minister for Equalities Claire Coutinho has echoed activists’ outrage, calling on women’s minister Bridget Phillipson to “start work now” to protect “the dignity, privacy, and safety of women and girls”
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Shadow Minister for Equalities Claire Coutinho has echoed activists’ outrage, calling on Women’s Minister Bridget Phillipson to “start work now” to protect “the dignity, privacy, and safety of women and girls”.
Coutinho said that the Government must “unravel the confusion and misinformation” on the issue, urging Labour to ensure that all guidance “makes clear” that the protected characteristic of sex refers to biological sex.
The MP for East Surrey added that the publication will be a “kick in the teeth” for those who believed Labour would stand by its election promise to protect single-sex spaces.
During Labour’s election campaign last summer, Keir Starmer’s party vowed to defend women’s only spaces, following a widespread gender row over the definition of a woman.
Sex Matters took to its organisation’s social media to declare that Labour has “broken” that pledge, slammed as a “betrayal of women”.
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