Following is a model motion to adapt for Labour Party / Trade Union branches or other bodies, produced by A Woman’s Place. The petition is also available as a PDF and was originally published on Google Drive on 15th October 2017. A Woman’s Place can be found on Twitter and on Facebook and can be contacted by email at womansplaceuk@gmail.com.
A Woman’s Place — Model motion for Constituency Labour Party branches
XXX Branch/Constituency Labour Party notes that:
- the Government has said it will consult on changes to the Gender Recognition Act (2004) in the autumn;
- one change to be consulted on is a change to the requirement for a person to change their legal sex;
- according to the current act, a person must obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate in order to change their legal sex; part of the requirement is a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria;
- one proposal under consideration is that this be amended so that a self-declaration is all that is required for a person to change legal sex.
This Branch/CLP affirms that:
- women-only spaces exist thanks to the struggle of women for their rights and liberation;
- women-only spaces are important for the safety, dignity and privacy of women and to allow women to organise amongst themselves on issues that particularly affect women such as reproductive rights.
This Branch/CLP calls for the Labour Party to:
- encourage discussion by members on the impact of proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act;
- ensure that discussion is comradely, respectful and evidence based and that women’s voices are heard;
- affirm its commitment to the principle of women-only spaces;
- call on the Government to hold back on any change to the GRA until it has
- performed a review of how the exemptions in the Equality Act (2010) which allow for single sex services or requirements that only a woman can apply for a job (such as in a domestic violence refuge) are being applied in practice under current legislation;
- consulted with women’s organisations on how self-declaration would impact on women only services and spaces;
- researched the impact of self-declaration upon data gathering – such as crime, employment, pay, and health statistics – and monitoring of sex based discrimination such as the gender pay gap.