Two years ago we launched an audacious campaign to oppose reform of the Gender Recognition Act and #StopSexSelfID. Despite all odds, and with no official funding, women won! Our success was down to the hard work of ordinary women and small donations from hundreds of our supporters. However, the fight for women's rights is not over. We urgently need your help again to continue our vital work, and keep the pressure on.
Just because GRA reform has been dropped it doesn’t mean our sex-based rights are now secure. The Fair Play For Women mission is to make sure women and girls are never forgotten or ignored by policy-makers.
We think that advocates for sex-based rights must now be treated as stakeholders in all policies on transgender inclusion. Every policy must be looked at again with fresh eyes to make sure they work for everyone, not just trans people, this time with all stakeholders consulted.
We have already made great strides.
For the past two years Dr Nicola Williams has been our spokeswoman. She has established the organisation as a professional, reliable and trustworthy source of well-informed, considered and responsible input on an increasingly fraught topic of discussion. She has made numerous appearances on TV and radio to bring media and public attention to the erosion of female-only spaces.
We are already a recognised stakeholder expert on sex-based rights, lobbying policy makers and getting into policy meetings where we can go beyond campaigning and turn concern into real-life change and influence. In person, and via our website, Dr Williams and Fair Play For Women have become a trusted source of evidence-based guidance, consulted regularly by UK and international policy-makers, academics and many others.
Much of our work is behind the scenes, educating and influencing in a targeted way. Our credibility and trust rely on our discretion as well as our authoritative and balanced approach. Here are some of the public highlights that we can share.
SPORT: We've generated main-stream publicity and concern around male participation in female sport, helping to deliver a high-profile sports conference and involving well-known sportswomen who now speak out in support. We have been invited to policy review meetings held by IOC, World Athletics, World Rugby and Sport England - the very first time a women’s group has been there to speak up for females. Our work in this area has ultimately led to the UK’s Sports Council commissioning an independent review of their trans inclusion guidelines and World Rugby's unprecedented decision that transwomen will no longer be allowed to play in any women's international matches. Work now continues to challenge our Rugby home nations to apply the same standards at club level, and to make sure these same high standards get adopted in many other sports.
PRISON: We revealed shocking evidence for the first time that almost half of all trans-identifying males in prison are there for sexual or violent offences, something later confirmed by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). We've since been consulted by the MOJ as part of their review of transgender prison rules and have provided witness statements in support of a forthcoming judicial review of the rules being brought by a female prisoner. There is still more to do to make sure women in prison are never forced to share their prison space with male offenders.
LANGUAGE: We believe that female-only must always mean male-free. If you are told you'll get a female health care professional to perform an intimate procedure you need to know that's what you'll get. If you are told your mother is in a female-only hospital ward you need to be sure she won't find someone born male in the bed next to her. If you choose a female-only club or activity you need to know it will be male-free. If you read about a 'female' sex-offender in the newspaper you need to be confident that really is their birth sex. We are lobbying IPSO, the UK’s main media watchdog, and the Office For National Statistics (ONS) which runs the Census for England and Wales, and many other policy-makers and policy-influencers, pushing for correct use of language and accurate data collection.
We need your help!
There is more hard work ahead to regain the rights which are ours in law, but which countless organisations have voluntarily surrendered on our behalf and without our consent. Sex self-ID has been happening by the back door and that needs to stop. Rights on paper are meaningless if they aren't implemented in real-life for women and girls. We are working hard to make sure they are.
Until now, Fair Play For Women has been an entirely voluntary organisation. We are working to have our voices heard against powerful and well-funded lobby groups such as Stonewall who have received more than £600,000 per annum from government sources in recent years, and whose annual income is in the millions. Despite their resources swamping our modest means, they are afraid to let us speak. But their demands for #NoDebate are no longer credible. We are now being heard and listened to. Please help us to see this through. To keep really making an impact, we need to go up a gear, and we can’t do that without your help.
What will your donation pay for?
- A salary for our full-time director (discounted to below industry standards).
- Website costs and maintenance
- Continuing development of our evidence-base and policy guidelines
- Lobbying and provision of training
- Travel expenses and conference fees
- Legal advice
This is still a David and Goliath fight, and we can’t win it without your help. Your donation will help us keep the pressure on, and ensure that whenever there is a conflict between women’s rights and transgender inclusion, Fair Play For Women is there to speak up for you, your mum and your daughters.