Protecting the rights of women
Is common sense finally breaking through the debate about gender identification? The decision of Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, to ban trans women from all-female wards in hospitals is the first proper push-back against the madness that has gripped the entire public sector.
Ensuring there are single-sex wards in the NHS has long been an issue for women’s organisations that have seen years of campaigning threatened by guidelines allowing access to men who have changed gender or define themselves as female.
Mr Barclay is right to say that women’s dignity needs to be protected and their voices heard, not ignored. He is also determined to scrap the non-gendered terminology that has been adopted under pressure from activists.
This has led to terms such as breastfeeding being replaced by chestfeeding and pregnant people rather than women. Most people in Britain would regard this as not merely unacceptable but an insult to women. Mercifully, sex-specific language has been restored to online health advice pages.
Mr Barclay told the conference he was consulting on changes to the NHS constitution, which sets out the rights of patients, to strengthen protection for women. Many people would prefer that he cut out the consultation and just ordered a return to sanity, but if it is necessary it should be expedited.
Similarly, it is time for the Government to publish guidance to schools on how to deal with pupils who identify as a different gender and expect teachers to change how they are addressed. Ministers are believed to have rejected the idea of changing the law, but must set out clear parameters that teachers can follow without fear of legal action for breaching equality legislation.