26th February, 2021

The Census - An Update

A brief overview

There is now less than a month to go until the Census on 21st March 21.  You will have heard about the controversies surrounding the “sex” question, the accompanying guidelines to which suggest people can self identify as whichever sex they choose, by advising the public to answer according to the sex recorded on a document such as their passport or driving licence, rather than their biological sex, or even their legal sex. Fair Play for Women have written about the implications of this, and their legal challenge.

Baroness Barker delivers speech supporting the erasure of women

Earlier this week, socialist feminist Dr Jane Clare Jones was a guest on The Mess We’re In to talk about her brilliant research paper, The Political Erasure of Sex: Sex in the Census, which examines the work of our census authorities on the recent development of the sex and gender identity questions.  Yesterday, she was slandered as a member of the alt-right by Baroness Barker, in the House of Lords.

In her speech, as well as defaming Jane, she repeated the lie that women’s groups are positioning transgender people as a specific danger to women.

I wonder whether the Baroness recognises that males are sufficiently dangerous to females to justify single sex space at times when female people are potentially vulnerable? If so, perhaps she could be the first person to sufficiently explain to us at what point she believes a male who declares himself a transwoman should start being treated as a female in every aspect of life, and how we can tell the difference between that man and any other man. Does the Baroness believe that women and girls should be able to question the presence of men in female single sex spaces such as changing rooms, or would this be transphobic on the basis that they might identify as a transwoman?

Guidance about sex in statistics

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) have released this draft guidance for statistics producers, with regards to the collection and reporting of data about sex in official statistics. The guidance outlines how expected standards of trustworthiness, quality, value and time should be met, and OSR are requesting feedback before it is finalised.

Call to Action:

1. Donate to Fair Play for Women’s Crowdfunder, which is currently at 85% of its target with four days to go.

2. Write politely to Baroness Barker to protest her defamatory comments about Dr Jane Clare Jones.

3. Start to complete the three actions outlined by the Sex in the Census campaign, which has been launched by several organisations to challenge the Office of National Statistics’ decision, to not collect data on biological sex.

4. Email OSR as soon as possible (and no later than 5th April) to provide feedback on their guidance. Include your interpretation of the word sex, how you think sex should be defined for data collection purposes, and the reasons for this.