Feminist Student Society Sanctioned for Being Women-Only
Feminist Student Society Sanctioned for Being Women-Only
Latest: Feb. 6, 2023
Statement on the Protection of Single-Sex Services and Spaces
We are delighted that the Bristol SU has made the decision to update their policies to confirm that single-sex services and women-only spaces, like Women Talk Back!, are lawful. In two statements, re…
NOTE:
This page is no longer receiving funding pledges. We have created a new CrowdJustice page, which is a continuation of this one, where people can continue donating. In April 2022, our solicitor, Liz McGlone, changed law firms and moved to Didlaw. CrowdJustice policy requires that a separate page must be created in order to direct the funds from donors to the new law firm. You can see the current page titled "Help Us Protect Single-Sex Services and Spaces!" by clicking here.
WHO WE ARE
We are a group of students and former students and we represent the feminist student society Women Talk Back! Our group has been officially affiliated with the Bristol Students' Union (BSU) and we have been sanctioned for being women-only, despite being in compliance with the Equality Act. Please help us protect single-sex spaces from the Bristol SU's discriminatory practices and policies.
Women Talk Back! was created as a forum where women can discuss issues relating to their experiences of being female under patriarchy. Our consciousness-raising meetings scrutinise women’s experiences to generate a wider structural analysis of the status of women. You can read testimonials from women who attend our consciousness-raising meetings, describing what the society means to them and the impact it has had in their lives on this page.
Our attendees have repeatedly stressed how important it is that we protect their rights to privacy, safety and dignity when discussing our experiences as women and sensitive matters relating to being female in patriarchy. Therefore, when affiliating with the Bristol SU in 2018, we consulted discrimination lawyers to help us explain why we explicitly wished to implement the single-sex exceptions under the Equality Act 2010. These exceptions allow for groups to be single-sex (in this case women-only) when being single-sex is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
We welcome the fact that there are hundreds of student societies on campus open to everyone, but in ours we proudly centre women’s lives and experiences. Our public meetings with leading feminist writers, academics and campaigners are open to everyone. However, our restricted consciousness-raising meetings are women-only so they can speak freely and without fear. Thus being a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, in accordance with the law.
We strongly object to the idea that women should have to disclose personal trauma or histories of male violence in order to "justify" our need for women-only spaces. We consider that there is a positive value to single-sex spaces, including solidarity and support among ourselves, and those benefits should be reason enough to have our boundaries respected.
The four women pursuing this case are acting as representatives for the whole feminist society. Whilst we are proud to stand our ground, we are all young women at the start of our careers or in precarious circumstances. Therefore, some of us would like to remain anonymous for the time being.
This is a picture from one of our first consciousness-raising meeting after becoming officialised by the Bristol SU in 2018.
OUR STORY
Since our inception we have experienced resistance, rejection and attempts to infringe on our right to single-sex spaces from the Bristol SU.
Over the past three years, the BSU would ask us to provide explanations as to why we wanted to be single-sex. Women Talk Back! explained that our priority is protecting our members’ right to safety, dignity and privacy, and that our members stated the group would not work for them if it was mixed-sex. The Bristol SU would reply saying they do not consider that to be a good enough reason and would shift the goalpost again and again and again to keep us justifying why we wanted to exercise our rights under the law.
The Bristol SU modified their bylaws to include a definition of ‘women’ that reads: “All who self define as women, including (if they wish) those with complex gender identities that include 'woman', and those who experience oppression as women.” There is no definition of the word ‘men’ in the Bristol SU bylaws. Furthermore, after our women-only society became affiliated in 2018, the BSU changed their bylaws in 2019 to request all societies must accept people based on “gender identity”. There is no definition of the term “gender identity” in UK law and this concept is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. The law defines “sex” (a protected characteristic) as meaning “man or woman”. “Man” is defined in the law as “a male of any age” and “woman” as “a female of any age”. This means the Bristol SU sanctioned us for using the law to protect something that is not recognised by the law.
On the evening of 1 March 2020, Women Talk Back! held a consciousness-raising meeting titled ‘Boundaries and Feminism’. A couple of student trans activists, including a self-identifying transwoman, turned up to the session. The transwoman (male) student admitted being aware that Women Talk Back! operates under the single-sex exceptions of the Equality Act 2010, but said they thought that by showing up in person and being nice to us, they could violate our boundaries.
We recognised these student trans activists from their previous targeting, of some of our larger public events, and their targeting of feminist events hosted by other student societies. This targeting was reported in the local press, and included that the male trans activist student demanding access to our women-only space had to be removed by security after hijacking a feminist meeting on the Bristol University campus.
These students complained about Women Talk Back! being women-only and following the 1 March 2020 incident, the BSU retrospectively claimed that we were never single-sex to begin with. They opened an investigation and Women Talk Back! provided four witness statements from women who were present that night. We detailed the intimidating and forceful nature of this incident and how we felt we were being threatened and emotionally blackmailed into weakening our boundaries for fear of retaliation from student trans activists. The result of this investigation was that the BSU validated the trans activists’ account and sanctioned us. The Student Union demanded:
Mandatory “diversity and inclusion” training for our members regarding accepting males into our single-sex female space;
Our President, Raquel Rosario Sánchez, must step down from her role and cannot run as a committee member on any other society’s committee for two years;
Our group is not allowed to be female-only and we must make it clear on our social media pages and our page on the SU website that our group is ‘open to everyone’.
THE CASE
Women should not have to plead and beg for permission in order to use the rights we already have. Women shouldn't have to justify over and over again why we want to be among ourselves to discuss our own lives. We should be able to use the single-sex provisions without being targeted by trans activist students and without being sanctioned by institutions meant to support us.
We are grateful to have received pro bono guidance from lawyers helping us advocate for our rights. Based on this guidance, we believe that the BSU, being an association as defined under the Equality Act, has breached its duties towards us. We also believe the BSU has committed sex related harassment by engaging in unwanted behaviour which has had the purpose or effect of violating our dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
We believe that Women Talk Back! as a whole, and specific women members, have been the victims of direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation, because of our protected characteristic of sex, and because of protected acts done in relation to that characteristic.
While this was the preliminary and pro bono advice that we received, we have now instructed Amanda Jones from Great James Street Chambers as our barrister and Elizabeth McGlone from Harrison Clark Rickerbys as our solicitor, to represent us. Both women specialise in equality and discrimination matters.
WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
We are initially raising £10,000 to get the case off the ground, and this will cover a thorough legal case assessment, the Letter Before Claim, the lodging of the claim and the initial costs of the litigation. Following that, we will need to prepare the case itself, including disclosure and witness statements. Cases like this can cost up to £50,000-£75,000 and we need to raise enough money to ensure we can pay for the Bristol SU costs in case we are not successful. There is no such thing as a guaranteed success and we are aware that we might lose.
Our case could be the among the first brought by women who were directly prevented from or sanctioned for using the single-sex exemptions under the Equality Act 2010. The rights everyone has to single-sex spaces mean nothing if public bodies and institutions, such as the Bristol SU, can override and dictate which rights women should or should not have.
All we want is to hold our women-only consciousness-raising meetings where we discuss our lives and unapologetically centre ourselves. We simply want the BSU to abide by the law and recognise that their sanctions against us were unfair and discriminatory. We want to continue operating using the single-sex exemptions for our restricted consciousness-raising meetings, and to continue holding our successful public feminists events where everybody is welcomed.
THANK YOU!
Women Talk Back! has spent the past three years cooperating amicably and in good faith with the Bristol SU. We are disappointed that they have sanctioned us and we are saddened to have to litigate so that both women's boundaries and rights are upheld.
However, we want to thank the lawyers who have helped us with their guidance on how to invoke the single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act and we are grateful to all of you for the support and solidarity we have received since the sanctions against us became public.
Now, we ask for your support so that we can move forward ensuring women's rights to single-sex spaces and services are protected. As students and former students, we can't do this without you. Please share this Crowdjustice page among your networks, donate if you are able and help us stand up for women's rights.
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Women Talk Back!
Feb. 6, 2023
Statement on the Protection of Single-Sex Services and Spaces
We are delighted that the Bristol SU has made the decision to update their policies to confirm that single-sex services and women-only spaces, like Women Talk Back!, are lawful. In two statements, released on 13 January 2023, the Bristol SU stated:
“In accordance with, and as defined in, the Equality Act 2010, affiliated clubs and societies may lawfully offer single sex services and be constituted as single sex associations, where this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, in accordance with the exceptions set out in the Equality Act. WTB! could, should they wish to do so, re-apply for affiliation to the Union on that basis. In doing so, WTB! would set out in their constitution the Equality Act 2010 definition of ‘women’ being ‘a female of any age’ instead of the byelaws definition.”
Unfortunately, not all institutions are willing to create or modify their existing policies to explicitly acknowledge that it is lawful to offer single-sex services and spaces. Which is why all remaining litigation funds crowdfunded from the public in our account will be redirected to support Sarah, a survivor of male violence, who is pursuing legal action against Survivors’ Network, the Rape Crisis Centre for Sussex. Sarah is challenging the service for refusing to provide a female-only peer support group for women who experience sexual abuse. We encourage similar organisations to follow the lead of the Bristol SU and recognise that single-sex services, spaces and associations are both lawful and hold a valuable place in society.
While much of the broader debate about sex and “gender identity” can feel abstract, our experience trying to justify and maintain the female-only nature of our feminist society has been anything but. Protecting the single-sex exceptions which we rely upon to operate, in a real-world incident and faced with sudden confrontation, represented a frightening experience which has negatively impacted all of us. This is particularly true for our President Raquel Rosario Sánchez, who was tasked with upholding our right to privacy, safety and dignity in a practical setting.
We are forever grateful to the public for their words of encouragement and for making this case viable through their donations. We are equally grateful to our lawyers, solicitor Elizabeth McGlone from didlaw and barrister Spencer Keen from Old Square Chambers, for their guidance and support throughout this process. Both the public and our lawyers have been instrumental in ensuring that today, the right to single-sex services and women-only associations is upheld at the Bristol SU.
As we look forward, it is heartening to connect with feminists across the UK who are becoming organised, setting their own collectives while holding women-only meetings and public events where they can discuss issues that affect their lives. We feel optimistic that this positive resolution will encourage an environment where it is easier to breathe for women like us in academia. While we wish our time at university had been less contentious and more welcoming of feminists who defend sex-based rights, we feel proud of what we are achieving, both individually and as a collective. As claimants, we want to express that it has been the honour of a lifetime for us to contribute to the long but steadfast defence of single-sex services and spaces for women.
Women Talk Back!
Jan. 6, 2023
Happy New Year!
Women Talk Back!
April 12, 2022
The Bristol SU is trying to Strike Out much of our case!
It's been a few months since you last heard from us but there has been a lot of movement behind the scenes. After we filed our Particulars of Claim and the Bristol SU filed their Defense, they went one step further and have made an application to strike out a number of our claims. We feel taken aback by this aggressive approach and we need your help to fight back. Please donate if you can by going to this page: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/help-us-protect-single-sex-services-and-spaces/
The Bristol SU have also made requests for clarification of some points and we are currently awaiting our first pre-trial hearing, which should be coming up very soon. We are in the process of preparing the steps that need to be taken before the case is ready for trial e.g. disclosure of documents, exchange of witness statements, etc.
We have a lot of work to do and we have to ask again for your help in raising enough funds. We are trying our best to keep costs at a minimum, but also we hope you trust that the money you have donated has been well spent, and that we would only request your support when it is absolutely necessary.
Our case comes at a crucial time, when conversations about single-sex services and spaces are right at the forefront of everyone's mind. Ours is the first legal case about women being sanctioned for explicitly using the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010. For clarity, the claims in our legal action against the Bristol SU are:
a. Direct Sex Discrimination
b. Indirect Sex Discrimination
c. Direct Philosophical Belief Discrimination
d. Victimisation
e. Harassment Relating to Sex and/or a Protected Belief
f. Breach of Contract
We are excited to have our solicitor Elizabeth McGlone back from maternity leave this week. She is now a Legal Director at Didlaw, and Crowdjustice rules state that we had to create a new page since our lawyer changed law firms. This page is now closed and our new page moving forward will be this one: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/help-us-protect-single-sex-services-and-spaces/. Liz is truly phenomenal and we trust her completely. We want to thank our lawyers at Harrison Clark Rickerbys, who covered for Liz while she was away and who were very supportive of us. And as always we are sending you our gratitude for the messages, the shares, and the donations. Stay tuned for more updates.
Kind regards,
Women Talk Back!
Women Talk Back!
Dec. 28, 2021
We have served our Particulars of Claim!
After we have filed our claims at the Bristol County Court on October 20th, the Particulars of Claim were served by hand on November 24th to the legal team representing the Bristol Students’ Union. On December 22nd we received their Defence.
Since we informed the BSU of this legal action, they have been requesting unreasonable delays to the process in order to prolong our access to justice. For example, the BSU solicitors have sent us a few letters complaining about the fact that they did not have time they requested (3 months) in which to respond to the letter of claim and also that we would not agree to their suggestion that we should delay serving the Particulars of Claim until at least January 2022. Keep in mind that our difficult relationship with the BSU started in Autumn 2018.
The claims in our legal action against the Bristol SU are:
a. Direct Sex Discrimination
b. Indirect Sex Discrimination
c. Direct Philosophical Belief Discrimination
d. Victimisation
e. Harassment Relating to Sex and/or a Protected Belief
f. Breach of Contract
Overall, we are claiming that women are statistically more likely to be the victims of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and violence perpetrated by members of the opposite sex and more likely to have concerns over their safety, dignity and privacy. Women therefore have a particular need for a single-sex forum like ours in which these issues can be discussed, and a particular need for services like ours which support them with these issues.
The BSU eventually punished us for explicitly relying on the single-sex exemptions in schedule 3 of the Equality Act 2010. Our insistence on providing single-sex services was considered a failing on our part which required a coercive remedy in the form of equality and diversity training.
Regarding Point c, Women Talk Back! argues that: At the core of WTB! lives the belief that biological sex is real, important, immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity. We believe that the provision of single-sex services and facilities for women are important and that in some cases services and facilities cannot be delivered effectively for women unless they are single-sex. We consider that statements such as “woman means adult human female” or “trans women are male” are statements of neutral fact and are not expressions of antipathy towards trans people or “transphobic”.
Regarding Point e, Women Talk Back! argues that: The BSU has committed harassment relating to sex and/or protected belief contrary to s.26(1) EqA by engaging in unwanted behaviour related to sex and belief which has had the purpose or effect of violating the Claimants' dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment.
The above four paragraphs are meant to show our donors (the public) some of the arguments we are claiming in this litigation. We are immensely grateful for your continued support and confidence in our case. Thank you to everyone who has messaged and/or donated. We will keep you up to date with our news.
We want to thank our lawyers at Harrison Clark Rickerbys and our barrister from Great James Street Chambers for their hard work and wise guidance.
Kind regards,
Women Talk Back!
Women Talk Back!
Oct. 20, 2021
We have issued our claim in Court + BBC Woman's Hour
We want to let you know that we have filed our claims at the Bristol County Court on October 20th. We want to thank our lawyers at Harrison Clark Rickerbys and our barrister from Great James Street Chambers for their expertise, guidance and support. Our case is mainly about sex discrimination and our experiences as women trying to uphold our rights as they are already contemplated in the law, but we are also aware that litigating about the use of the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010 is a particularly daunting prospect. We feel confident that we have the right legal team in place to help us through this.
We argue that the provision of single-sex services and facilities for women are important and that in some cases services and facilities cannot be delivered effectively for women unless they are single-sex. As claimants, we strongly believe that feminist consciousness-raising must be female-only in order for it to be effective for women.
Also on October 20th, our case was featured on the BBC Woman's Hour when Women Talk Back! president Raquel Rosario Sanchez was interviewed by the journalist Emma Barnett. It was a fairly long segment and we appreciate the opportunity to answer questions and discuss how we have reached this point in our relationship with the Bristol SU. Filing our case in court is the result of almost four years pleading and trying to reason with the Student Union and at every turn, they treated us unfairly simply for upholding our legal rights as women. In the end, and despite the fact that we provided them with legal documents showing their actions were unlawful, they made a decision to sanction us.
You can listen to the Woman's Hour segment on the BBC website following this link. It starts at the 35:05 mark.
We want to thank all of you for supporting us and having confidence in our case. Also, thanks to everyone who has reached out to us with messages of encouragement and for your donations. We will keep you updated as things move forward.
Kind regards,
Women Talk Back!
Women Talk Back!
Sept. 23, 2021
Thank you for helping us reach our Initial Target!
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