Leading feminist organisation 'fails to give straight answers' on single-sex spaces

Scotland’s leading feminist policy organisation has been accused of failing to provide straight answers on single-sex spaces while appearing before a Holyrood committee.

Jill Wood, the policy manager for Engender, repeatedly refused to comment when pressed on issues relating to trans people accessing women-only spaces.

Elsewhere, Vic Valentine from the Equality Network told MSPs that excluding trans people from single-sex services and spaces would be unlawful in "the overwhelming majority of circumstances".

The issue has hit the headlines recently in the wake of an ongoing NHS Fife employment tribunal, which centres on a trans doctor's use of a female changing room.

Sandie Peggie | John Devlin/National World

Nurse Sandie Peggie was suspended from her work last year after she objected to Dr Beth Upton, a trans woman, using the female changing room in an A&E department.

MSPs on Holyrood’s equalities, human rights and civil justice committee, which is examining the operation of the public sector equality duty, were warned not to ask questions about the specifics of the case at a meeting on Tuesday morning.

Engender, which is mostly funded by the Scottish Government, supports the principle of self-ID, in which trans people can self-identify their gender.

Conservative MSP Pam Gosal asked Ms Wood if she believed lesbian clubs and associations with 25 or more members should be able to exclude males, including those with gender recognition certificates.

Ms Wood said she was not able to comment, adding: “My understanding is that I’m here to give evidence on the Scottish-specific duties of the public sector equality duty, so I wouldn’t be able to comment on that.”

Tory MSP Tess White then asked a series of questions about single-sex spaces, including whether it was Engender’s view that the law should permit employers and service providers to exclude trans women from women-only spaces.

Ms Wood said: “I’m not here to comment on that this morning, so I can’t give you an answer.”

Asked about Engender’s support for self-ID, and what analysis it had done on other women, including those of faith, “self-excluding” on the back of this, Ms Wood said she would need to get back to the committee, “but we’d be happy to do that”.

Speaking after the meeting, Ms White said too many organisations “are out of touch with the common sense views of ordinary Scots on gender issues”.

She said: “When organisations are answering questions before a parliamentary committee, the public deserve straight answers – especially when the issue of single-sex spaces is being discussed by women’s organisations.”

Valentine, who uses the pronouns they/them, said the “status quo of the law says that trans people can only be excluded from single-sex spaces and services that align with who we are and how we live our lives if that is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.

They added: "Sometimes it will be, but in our view, in the overwhelming majority of circumstances, our total exclusion from single sex services and spaces that align with how we live our lives is not needed and also, crucially, it is not a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It's also unlawful under the Equality Act, and that has been the same since 2010, and like I say, it very much is the status quo.”