COMMUNISTS called for protection of women's spaces and preservation of "separate spaces and distinct services to protect women from violence and abuse" today.

The party's biennial congress said that women's rights won over decades of struggle were "under sustained ideological attack," thanks to the "growth and ascendancy of neoliberal philosophy across a range of intellectual fields."

It adopted a resolution expressing concern at "the divisive debate around self-identification which conflates ‘sex' and 'gender' which could threaten the rights of women and girls" and committed members to fight for a wider understanding of these problems in the labour movement.

Delegates discussed the attacks on women who raised concerns about self-identification and attempts to no-platform or silence them, including attacks on the Morning Star for agreeing to publish articles on the subject.

Mover Mary Davis of the London district said that socialism would be unattainable without "an understanding of the link between women's oppression and class exploitation."