The Times- Protests over trans woman heading rape crisis centre

 

Protests over trans woman heading rape crisis centre

Mridul Wadhwa promised the rape crisis centre would provide “inclusive and flexible support”
Mridul Wadhwa promised the rape crisis centre would provide “inclusive and flexible support”
Nick Harding
The Times

The original article is here 
The appointment of a transgender woman to the female-only role as head of a rape crisis centre has prompted calls for an equalities investigation by activists who claim she has no legal right to the position.

Mridul Wadhwa, a former Scottish parliamentary SNP candidate, was appointed chief executive of Edinburgh Rape Crisis, a job that was advertised as reserved for a woman.

Feminist campaigners claim she has no gender recognition certificate and has not undergone gender reassignment surgery and so is not legally entitled to be considered a woman.

Wadhwa caused controversy last October when she was proposed as a candidate on the SNP’s all-women shortlist to contest the Stirling seat at this year’s Holyrood election.

She is reported to have left the party in December after MSPs overwhelmingly backed an amendment in Holyrood to allow survivors of rape and sexual assaults to pick the sex rather than the gender of the person examining them. She tweeted that she “could no longer call it home”. 

The feminist campaign group For Women Scotland claimed that the SNP had broken the Equality Act by including a “male candidate” on the list.

Wadhwa’s appointment at the Edinburgh centre prompted a social media campaign urging people to write to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to request an investigation.

Wadhwa was formerly a manager at the Forth Valley Rape Crisis Centre. When asked in an interview last year whether a male could be a successful rape crisis centre manager, she said: “Women’s aid organisations and rape crisis centres have been set up with the blood, sweat, and tears of women. It’s about the women’s experience of sexual violence. Our workforce is reserved for women only.”

Kellie-Jay Keen, of Standing for Women, said women had opened the Edinburgh centre in 1978. “ I doubt very much they ever thought their tireless campaigning would provide a seat for a male CEO. Surely this role should have been explicitly women only.”

Rape Crisis Scotland, which runs 17 member centres in the country, said they were “proud” to have Wadhwa “as a colleague within our movement”.

Sandy Brindley, chief executive, said: “Mridul Wadhwa brings to this role extensive experience working in the violence against women sector. All rape crisis centres in Scotland work within equality and employment law. There is a lot of misinformation and targeted harassment in relation to Mridul. We think this is unacceptable.”

After her appointment Wadhwa said: “As a passionate, loud and consistent advocate for the rights of trans women and black minority ethnic women, I look forward to working alongside my new colleagues to ensure that we provide inclusive and flexible support.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seven sex attacks in women’s jails by transgender convicts The Times 11.05.20

Seven sex attacks in women’s jails by transgender convicts The Times 11.05.20 Transgender prisoners are five times more likely to carry out sex attacks on inmates at women’s jails than other prisoners are, official figures show. Male prisoners who were transferred to women’s jails during gender reassignment and women inmates who are transitioning committed seven of the 124 sex attacks recorded between 2010 and 2018. They occurred at HMP Low Newton in Co Durham, Foston Hall in Derbyshire, Peterborough, Bronzefield in Middlesex and New Hall, West Yorkshire. Karen White, a child abuser who dressed as a woman but was still legally a man, was jailed for life in 2018 for sexually assaulting two prisoners at HMP New Hall and the rape of a woman while he was outside jail. Lord Keen of Elie, the Ministry of Justice spokesman in the Lords, told Labour’s Baroness McDonagh, in a written answer that there had been five attacks. The Ministry of Justice later updated the response to include White’s a
Read more

The Telegraph - Trans Soldier on Army's "Women in Leadership" Panel Provokes Backlash

Image
Jump to content Trans soldier on Army's ‘women in leadership’ panel provokes backlash Deborah Penny, Britain's first transgender person to serve on the front line, took part in the talk Sandhurst (Original Article Here ) By Hayley Dixon,   SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT 11 August 2023 •  The Army is facing questions over a decision to feature a trans soldier on a panel at a “women in leadership” event. Warrant Officer Class 2 Deborah Penny, who became the first  transgender soldier to serve on the front line , took part in a discussion on “lived experience” of women in the forces during the event at Sandhurst this week. The soldier, who has served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan during a career spanning more than 40 years, is the Warrant Officer for diversity and inclusion in Army engagement. Campaigners have questioned why the bomb disposal expert was given a place on the five-person panel over a biological woman, saying that WO2 Penny’s experience was “irrelevant
Read more

The Telegraph- Oxfam training guide blames 'privileged white women' over root causes of sexual violence

  “Oxfam training guide blames ‘privileged white women’ over root causes of sexual violence Plus: Feminist writer Julie Bindel ponders 'if a war is being declared against feminism' By Hayley Dixon, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ; Melanie Newman and Julie Bindel An Oxfam staff training document says “privileged white women” are supporting the root causes of sexual violence by wanting "bad men" imprisoned. In the wake of sex scandals that have rocked the charity, Oxfam has produced guidance which states that: “Mainstream feminism centres on privileged white women and demands that ‘bad men’ be fired or imprisoned” Accompanied by a cartoon of a crying white woman, it adds that this “legitimises criminal punishment, harming black and other marginalised people”. It advises staff to read a controversial book which concludes: “Mainstream feminism is supporting, not undoing, the root causes of sexual violence.” Oxfam said that the training was voluntary, and the views are not presente
Read more