Debate over the inclusion of self-identifying trans women in women-only spaces intensified this week, as another group met privately to discuss the contentious issue.

Members of the famous women-only swimming pond on Hampstead Heath in London held a meeting on Thursday to discuss “perspectives on transgender swimming” after a decision to explicitly allow trans women access.



Press were excluded from the private meeting of 100 of the 400 members of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association (KLPA), which the Guardian understands was called after concerns around its stated policy were raised.



“It’s an important issue,” said one insider. “There are different views about trans women using the pond and some of us are concerned about the fact that it has always been the only all-women swimming place in Britain.”



Activists from the radical feminist group Mayday 4 Women stood outside the meeting urging members to lobby to “keep the Hampstead Heath ladies’ pond a sanctuary for women”.



They handed out leaflets saying: “Males already have have access to two ponds: the men’s pond and the mixed pond. Why should they have access to three ponds when they already have access to two?”



In January, the City of London, which manages Hampstead Heath and its ponds, confirmed that the ladies’ pond – which counts famous people such as Helena Bonham Carter and novelist Esther Freud among its swimmers – welcomed trans women.



It said trans women have been able to use the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond since the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits unlawful discrimination on the grounds of transgender status. A spokesman said all lifeguards and managers at the ponds had taken trans awareness training. “The City of London Corporation is committed to gender respect and equality in all forms,” he said.

In a statement, the KLPA said it was committed “to helping to create at the Ladies’ Pond an inclusive environment for all women, including transgender women, which is free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation”.



“Although it is tempting to assume someone’s gender simply by their appearance, it’s important to try to avoid doing so and to be aware of the needs of genuinely transgender women.

“The diverse community of women and girls – including transgender women – at the Ladies’ Pond contribute to its unique and very precious quality. We believe that with a continued commitment from all swimmers to respect the rights to privacy and dignity of others, we can continue to protect and enjoy it.”



Asked if there was “unease” in the group, a spokeswoman for the KLPA said: “There has been unease amongst some members following a report in the Mail on Sunday on 31 December 2017, which quotes one swimmer and reported a single incident that occurred last year (details of which remain uncertain).”

Protesters against the move said admitting trans women into women’s spaces would eventually open the door to all men.

Mayday 4 Women urged members attending the meeting to “represent the voices of women to have a space where women can feel safe, bring their daughter and not worry about a man who says he’s a woman being allowed through the gates”, said Jen Izaakson.

“Personally, I don’t see a difference between a man who says he’s a man or a man who says he’s a woman. It’s not about a physical change, men are socialised to be more violent than women and it’s men whom women feel frightened of when they are getting undressed.”



Labour is currently consulting on the inclusion of trans women in all-women shortlists without a gender recognition certification, while the government unveiled proposals to streamline the process of changing gender, with a consultation promised for this year. Trans campaigners argue the current need to be assessed and diagnosed by clinicians in order to obtain a certificate is intrusive and unnecessarily medical.

Feminist writer Julie Bindel said: “There have been trans women at the pond for decades, but this self-identification nonsense means there’s nothing at all you can do if a person with a penis and a beard comes to the pool and starts getting his kit off – it’s just mad,” she said. “Sex is a protected class for a good reason, because we have been raised under the patriarchy and have massive disadvantages. And until we really do have an end to this oppression that we face, we can’t say ‘ok, you say you are a woman, so you are a woman’.”

Regular pond user Vanessa Pelz-Sharp, 34, said she welcomed the move from the KLPA to explicitly welcome trans women. The idea that men would dress in women’s swimwear to “ogle” women was like “the gay panic in the 80s”, she said. “I understand that people are frightened of men, that’s why we have female-only spaces. [Excluding trans women] says you see these women as men but they are not, they are women, just trans women. There is more to being a woman than your genitalia.”



A trans woman, who did not wish to be named, who has used the pond for several years and felt comfortable doing so said she was grateful for the “wonderful space”.



“As a trans woman, that women-only space has been of huge benefit to me, it’s been a comfortable space to not worry about the danger of men around me and be able to relax more than I could do in a mixed swimming space,” she said. “All of the sense of safety people talk about, they are equally there and equally important to the trans women users.”

