Labour has completely abandoned women’s rights, former EHRC chief claims
The former chair of the equality watchdog claimed Labor had “completely abandoned” women’s rights and left women and transgender people in a “grey zone”.
Kishwer Falkner, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), criticized the party for failing to issue legal guidance after the Supreme Court ruled in April that the words “woman” and “gender” referred to a biological woman and biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
he said Times She believes Labor has traditionally been “the party of feminism” but that current Labor MPs have “lost that party”.
Baroness Falkner, who was appointed under the previous Conservative government, said: “What really upsets me about the current state of the Labor Party is that they seem to have completely given up on women’s rights.
“For 40 years in this country, the traditional rights party was Labour. The party of feminism. I was an advisor to a former, very senior Labor woman, Shirley Williams.”
“I was aware of Labor women who were committed to feminism, like Harriet Harman, Margaret Jay and Hilary Armstrong… and I think they lost that. This generation of Labor MPs lost that.”
Her comments come as organizations await new transgender guidance prepared by the EHRC and considered by the government.
Ministers have had the guidance for three months but insist they will be “in no rush” to publish the code of practice and insist it will take time to “get right”.
The guidance will be used by businesses and other organizations to provide information on the provision of single-sex and separate-sex services such as toilets and changing rooms.
The EHRC wrote to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson in October urging her to rush to introduce the new guidance, saying some organizations were currently using illegal practices.
But the EHRC has faced criticism for its interpretation of the High Court decision, with some campaigners saying the EHRC has gone too far in its guidance.
The interim guidance they published earlier this year, which is expected to be similar to the final code of practice, is currently the subject of a legal challenge by the Good Law Project (GLP), claiming it is “rushed, legally flawed and overly simplistic”.
The law has not been updated since 2011 and was last drafted following a Supreme Court decision.
“The danger of not publishing this is that people are left in the gray zone,” Baroness Falkner said. “Women still have to go to court to seek their rights. My biggest concern is that this is very sad for trans people. Some organizations implement this in some way, some do not.”
Baroness Falkner had previously been accused of causing “major distress to the trans community” with comments she made at the time of the decision, including describing it as a “triumph for common sense” and asserting: “If a man is allowed to use a women-only service, it is no longer a single-sex space.”
Meanwhile, the EHRC has been accused of not being independent on trans rights.
A government spokesman said it was “unrepentant” to take the time necessary to create “legally sound guidance”, adding that the alternative would be “completely disastrous and fail women across the country”.
Baroness Falkner’s comments come after the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) said this week that trans women would be banned from becoming members from April next year, and Girlguiding announced that trans girls were banned from becoming members.
Stating that NFWI’s decision was taken “with great regret and sadness”, the organization added that it maintains its “firm belief that trans women are women”.
Girlguiding said it was a “difficult decision” taken after “detailed consideration, expert legal advice and input from senior members, junior members”, its council and trustees.
