Written submission from Stonewall (EEA0266)

Introduction

1. Stonewall welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to this inquiry. In light of the Government’s announcement that it would consult on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (2004) and the subsequent consultation earlier this year, there have been increasingly heated discussions about the laws governing who can access single-sex spaces, including women-only domestic violence refuges, and whether GRA reform will impact these laws. In light of recent oral evidence, this submission will focus on the legal framework governing the inclusion of trans women in women-only services, and the importance of ensuring that all women fleeing violence – including trans women – are able to access the support they need.

Equality Act 2010

Services’ duties to support trans women

2. The Equality Act 2010 gives many trans people protection against discrimination by public and private services under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’. The Act also makes provision for organisations to operate single-sex and separate-sex services, such as domestic violence refuges, which play a vital role in supporting women on the journey of recovery from violence.

3. Under the Act, trans people have the right to access single-sex services in line with their ‘acquired gender’, and are not required to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), or have undergone any form of medical intervention, to be eligible for support in these services.

4. This support is absolutely essential, given that trans women experience particularly high rates of domestic violence: LGBT in Britain: Home and Communities, Stonewall and YouGov research which included the experiences of over 733 trans respondents, found that 16 per cent of trans women have experienced domestic abuse from a partner in the last year alone.

5. Earlier this year, Stonewall commissioned nfpSynergy to interview representatives of 15 local and national organisations providing and overseeing women-only domestic and sexual violence services in England, Scotland and Wales to discuss trans inclusion in women’s services. These interviews found that women-only domestic and sexual violence services have been supporting trans women in their services for some time, with many taking proactive steps to deliver trans-inclusive services. In Scotland, where violence against women and girls organisations have been required to have a trans inclusion action plan since 2011, leading Scottish women and equalities organisations, including Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid, stated:

‘We do not regard trans equality and women’s equality to contradict or be in competition with each other… Rape Crisis and Women’s Aid in Scotland provide trans inclusive services on the basis of self-identification.’

These sentiments were echoed in a joint statement made by leading women’s organisations in Wales, who stated:

‘We support trans women: our organisations and our work are fully inclusive of trans women.’

Equality Act exemption

6. The Equality Act also makes provision for single-sex services to provide a different service, or refuse their services, to someone who is undergone, has undergone or is proposing to undergo ‘gender reassignment’ (regardless of whether or not they have a GRC), in circumstances where they can demonstrate that doing so constitutes a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. To satisfy this criteria, this treatment must represent a real need which is not discriminatory, and for it to be proportionate there must be no less discriminatory means of achieving the given aim. As a result, a blanket policy excluding trans women from a women-only service would not be lawful.

7. nfpSynergy’s interviews with service providers found that no participants had used the Equality Act exemption to deny support to a trans survivor. Participant views were split between those who saw a need for keeping the exemption as a safeguard, and those who said that they could not see a case for keeping it:

‘If trans women are excluded from certain services under the exemptions provided for, then that’s determined on an individual case-by-case basis. An assessment would be made that would inform whether that decision was proportionate and legal: legitimate. And I would take advice on that. But that professional discretion is very rarely invoked. Which is what I’ve been trying to say. But it still remains, I think, an essential protection that allows me to ensure that women who would not otherwise access our services, do still receive the support that they need.’

‘[The exemption is] absolutely wrong, or it is in my opinion, because the thing is, I know it brings a lot of challenges to organisations, I know because we have been dealing with those challenges that we have and we have transgender women who have lived here... Some services they don’t want to work with [people with a particular immigration status] but that doesn’t mean you cannot work with them, it’s just that I know, it’s more complicated, it’s going to bring challenges but that doesn’t mean you cannot deal with them and it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to make mistakes but you need to do it basically.

Some participants expressed a worry about other services using these exemptions to bar access to trans survivors when they should be providing support:



‘I think that some organisations may use that to withhold transgender clients coming into their service because my clients have reported that back to me, that they’ve had a lot of doors closed in their face. And obviously, they say they don’t fit the criteria for a male service.’

Training and support for services on trans inclusion

8. Participants in the research highlighted how a common challenge when support trans survivors was a worry among staff about doing or saying the wrong thing, or about how other service users will respond. Participants said that policies and training on trans inclusion have helped to build confidence and address worries:

‘I think there are anxieties about getting it wrong. I think that’s one of the biggest worries about actually doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing.’

‘I think, that not having any direct experience, people are fearful until they’ve engaged with the issue themselves and then they realise that if they’ve got good policies and procedures in place to protect survivors from any kind of bullying or harassment, then they can meet everybody’s needs quite adequately.’

‘A couple of years ago we wrote a very strong policy and procedure which we then shared with our members and held a workshop with them and we brought an expert in to talk with our members about what best practice looks like and how this can happen. On the whole that was very positively received because that’s what people wanted to know, they wanted to know how to do it, so most of the negativity came from a fear of not knowing how to do it.’

9. Participants stated that more needs to be done to support trans survivors, and called for greater Government investment in training and guidance for all service providers on trans inclusion, with many keen to work in closer partnership with trans communities and LGBT organisations to support this work:

‘What I can see happening is I think there’s real space for very rich partnership and rich learning, rather than having a token trans survivor voice as an add-on and as a tick-box. The government needs to think seriously about funding for services, but it’s really important that those are intersectional. So it’s important that we have funding that really focuses on the development and strengthening of services for trans survivors, taking into account the diversity of survivors and the diversity of needs and the diversity of concerns that may arise.’

10. Nearly all participants said that funding cuts are the main threat facing women-only services and called for increased funding for these services. Alongside services for BAME women, specialist LGBT services were identified as being at particular risk, and participants called for increased funding for these services to ensure that all trans survivors, including trans men and non-binary people, can access support:

‘The sector is massively under-resourced to provide services, even with the basic services, and one of the things that is very clear is that specialist services within that for the LGBT+ services and BAME services are the most under-resourced, and so I do think it would be nice to see some more specialist trans and LGBT+ services being funded again because it’s a unique issue and it’s a unique way of experiencing domestic abuse if you’re a trans person or there might be a unique intersecting issue that you might want specific projects for or specific services for.’

11. To build understanding for trans survivors and ensure that service providers and frontline staff are confident to meet the needs of trans service users, Stonewall recommends that the UK Government coordinates a national action plan on trans inclusion in domestic and sexual violence services, as has been the case in Scotland. Trans communities should be consulted with closely in the development and delivery of the plan, which should prioritise training on supporting trans survivors for service providers and frontline staff, and facilitating closer partnership working between trans-led organisations, LGBT organisations and the women’s sector.

November 2018