Backlash From Members Over Women’s Institute Decision To Admit Trans Women
April 18, 2023The Women’s Institute is facing a backlash from members over its policy allowing trans members to join.
The policy “puts Women's Institutes in an untenable position”, a campaign group has warned its umbrella organisation, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI).
The new group, called Women’s Institute Declaration, has also launched a petition, according to ‘Telegraph’, with almost 1,000 signatures, claiming that the WI’s objectives are “under threat”, that “it cannot legitimately campaign for women-specific issues”, and that individual WI's constitutions “have been de facto changed without members' consent to allow anyone to join, regardless of sex”.
The petition calls for a pause in admitting new trans members while allowing current trans members to remain, a debate involving the wider implications of this policy within the WI, and a membership vote on the stance.
Image Credit: Pixabay
The WI was formed in 1915 and is the UK’s largest voluntary women’s with more than 180,000 members. In 2015 it announced that it welcomed transgender women and, in 2021, featured trans woman Petra Wenham, who transitioned at age 68, on the cover of its magazine.
In a letter sent to the WI board, seen by MailPlus, the Women’s Institute Declaration wrote: “By failing to define what a woman is, by having a wide description for a trans woman and by not allowing respectful debate, or debate of any kind, the NFWI has de facto forced individual Women’s Institutes to accept men.
“This has been achieved by poor drafting of policies, poor advice from advisers and is harmful to women as a whole.”
The WI’s policy on its website states that transgender women are welcome “to participate in any WI activities in the same way as any other woman”. The organisation added that this policy “builds on our ambitions and enriches our membership to ensure we are a place for all women to celebrate who they are and influence positive change in their communities”.
The campaign comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to rewrite equality law to protect women by making it easier to bar trans people from female sports and single-sex spaces.
The intervention came after earlier this month it emerged that the Government had asked the equalities watchdog for advice on changing the wording of the Equality Act to specify that it protects “biological sex” rather than “sex”.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recommended that such a change would “bring legal clarity” in eight areas, including sports and single-sex areas.
Melissa Green, CEO of the NFWI, said: "We are very proud of this policy, and how inclusive and supportive WI members are. This is not a new policy. We know transgender women have been welcomed to WIs for many years, some sources say as far back as the 1970s, and our national policy reflects what was happening already."
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