Female only services

19th June 2021

Standing For Women Report on Provision of Female-Only Services

Standing For Women have published a report on the provision of female-only services by NHS trusts in England and Wales and police forces in the United Kingdom.

Standing For Women @StandingforXX

Over 200 volunteers helped us with this report and I wish to thank each and every one of them. It was quite overwhelming to see so many people working toward exposing this systemic dismissal of women rights and bodily autonomy. (1)

The report found that only 2% of NHS trusts would recognize the single-sex exemption in the Equality Act 2010 and would be prepared to offer female-only services. None of the police services queried would restrict males who identified as women from conducting intimate searches on females.

Sex and gender are repeatedly conflated by these services and gender often prioritized above sex. In one case a women who made a written request to her NHS trust for female-only care was used in equality and diversity guidance as an example of ‘transphobia’. Stonewall has been involved in providing guidance to some police forces and has misrepresented the law regarding ‘gender identity’.

Women should have the right to request female only care and searches by law enforcement but it’s clear from this report that this is being removed. Women are not only losing this right but are being labelled bigoted for requesting it. We need to get our voices heard on this issue.

Action

• You can send a copy of the Standing For Women report to your MP, Chief of police, PCC, council head, NHS trust governors, local news outlets.

  Include a short personal letter with the report, including key findings and why it's important to you that women have their rights to a female member of staff upheld.