Mick Hartley

It's about time this was challenged:

Britain’s leading equalities watchdog has been urged to scrutinise the appointment of a trans woman as head of a Scottish rape crisis centre after a legal ruling over the definition of “what it is to be a woman”.

Feminist campaign groups want the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to examine the appointment of Mridul Wadhwa as chief executive of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, a position that was advertised as open to women only.

It's astonishing that this should ever have been allowed. Mridul Wadhwa is a trans rights activist with no gender recognition certificate, yet he was appointed head of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre with no questions asked. He's since suggested that women who are unhappy being counselled by biological men after the trauma of rape should expect to have their prejudices challenged. See? Rape can be a good learning experience into the dangers of the much more serious crime of transphobia.

Dr Nicola Williams, director of Fair Play for Women, has written to the EHRC urging it to investigate the procedure of the Wadhwa appointment. She argues that Wadhwa, a trans woman without a gender recognition certificate, should not have qualified for the position.

For Women Scotland (FWS), a feminist campaign group, claims the party has broken the Equality Act by having a “male candidate” on an all-women shortlist. FWS has published a letter which was sent to the SNP on their behalf by Sindi Mules, a partner with the Balfour and Manson legal firm.

Ms Mules wrote that all-women shortlists to address the under-representation of women in parliament were legislated for by the Equality Act, which was “quite clear: these shortlists are single sex, and are restricted to candidates who share the protected characteristic of the sex that is under-represented”. She added: “The Equality and Human Rights Commission confirms that the provisions in the Equality Act apply differently to a trans person with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) than to those without a GRC.

“They also state that, ‘A trans woman who does not hold a GRC and is therefore legally male would be treated as male’. It is confirmed . . . that the candidate Mridul Wadhwa does not have a GRC, so is therefore legally male.”

Excellent. The EHRC under its new head Baroness Falkner is starting to get to grips with the real issues in the gender debate.