#16Days #DefendingWomensSpaces #NoExcuse

Last year, as part of the #16days of activism (between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and International Human Rights Day), nia and WPUK partnered.

The aim? To get a copy of Karen Ingala Smith’s Defending Women’s Spaces into the hands of every MP*. We were overwhelmed. 581 copies were sponsored! Thank you.

 

We invited sponsors to include personal messages to be delivered alongside the books. Some comments are  specific to their MP, but all are a poignant testimony as to why single-sex spaces are so vital for the well-being, safety, privacy and dignity of women and girls.

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Thanks to the support of Polity Press, we were able to ensure funds from each copy went directly to nia. Donations totalled £5,468.24! Again, thank you. 

 

Who got a copy?

Ahead of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill debate (22/12/22)  129 copies were distributed to Scottish MSPs at Holyrood.

452 copies of Defending Women’s Spaces were delivered to Parliament ahead of last summer’s Westminster debate on e-petitions 623243 and 627984, relating to the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010.

In total 371 were delivered to English MPs, 41 Scottish MSPs, 27 to Welsh MSs and 13 to Northern Irish MLAs. Thank you to everyone at nia for packing so many books. 

 

The Book

This is it. This is the reminder, handbook and call that everyone on the frontline of defending women’s rights, voices and single-sex services has been waiting for… this is a must-read for anyone wanting to know why attempts to dismiss, dismantle, and ‘cancel’ the reality of biological sex mean a decimation of the hard-won rights and spaces of women and girls everywhere.  Onjali Raúf, author and CEO of Making Herstory

In Defending Women’s Spaces, Karen Ingala Smith sets out the evidence demonstrating that women’s specific needs are not met in mixed-sex spaces. That women are subjected to discrimination which cannot be addressed by so-called gender neutral or gender identification-based policy and provision.

She asks why nia was the only organisation to speak out while other established organisations, purportedly set up to advance women’s rights and the interests of victim-survivors of men’s violence, failed to defend women’s rights.

Karen Ingala Smith is a giant in women’s safety: few have done more to fight for women’s lives and voices to count. She is unapologetically women-focused.  Jess Phillips MP

All too often, accusations of transphobia are made in attempts to silence even the mildest challenge to the legitimacy of gender identity theory. In this climate, WPUK believes it is essential that policy and law makers understand the need to defend women’s sex-based rights and protections. Defending Women’s Spaces is a book of huge importance for women both in the UK and beyond. Like nia, we are proud to prioritise women.

 

Watch Karen Ingala Smith in conversation with Julie Bindel for the online launch of Defending Women’s Spaces.

Men’s Violence Against Women and Girls 

Violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world. Globally, an estimated 736 million women — almost one in three — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life.

However, “just 5% of government aid is focused on tackling violence against women and girls, and less than 0.2% is directed to its prevention. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

In addition, research published by Rosa earlier this year, found that of  £4.1 billion worth of grants awarded to charities by trusts and foundations, the women and girls sector received just 1.8% . In addition, a third of all grants for ‘women and girls’ focused activity – worth £24.7m – went to organisations with no specific focus on women and girls.

Recognising the growing threat to women-only services for women victim-survivors of men’s violence, nia’s trustees agreed to make the protection of single-sex spaces a strategic aim. We are proud that we were the first and for some time only UK organisation to develop a Prioritising Women Policy based on the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 to protect women-only spaces, and that other organisations such as Women’s aid (England) have followed suit.  nia

At Woman’s Place UK we know that violence against women & girls and sex discrimination still exist. Women need reserved places, separate spaces, and distinct services.

If you would like to donate to nia during the #16Days of activism 2023, to support their work with women and girls who have been subjected to men’s violence, you can do so here. 

*MPs, MSPs, MS and MLAs

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Victoria Smith Defending women’s spaces, again

Julie Bindel Karen Ingala Smith is too dangerous for a book launch

Karen Ingala Smith

Counting Dead Women 

Femicide Census

The Observer view on the police’s failure to prioritise violence against women

WPUK evidence to the CPS Consultation: Gender deception, Rape & Serious Sexual Offences

Scottish Government’s strategic review recommends single-sex services

Last year, as part of the #16days of activism, @nia_endingVAWG & WPUK partnered

The aim? To get a copy of Karen Ingala Smith’s Defending Women’s Spaces into the hands of every MP…#DefendingWomensSpaces #16Days #NoExcuse #IDVAW #OrangetheWorld #EMVAWGhttps://t.co/pJgjufvXDU pic.twitter.com/HT8yGjDI3J

— Woman’s Place UK (@Womans_Place_UK) November 25, 2023