Trade unions have warned they are ‘wholeheartedly’ against new rules on single-sex spaces and vowed to ‘fight’ against the guidance.
Eight representative groups, including Unison, the National Union of Students (NUS) and Unite, have been heavily critical of the stance adopted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on the matter.
A new code of practice on the Equality Act 2010, including the use of toilets and changing rooms as single-sex spaces, came into force earlier this month.
According to the new guidance, single-sex toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards and refuges must be used based on a person’s birth sex, not the gender with which they identify.
The guidance was issued after a landmark Supreme Court ruling last April legally defined a ‘woman’ in terms of biological sex, not gender identity.
But Unison, which has 1.3 million members, has railed against the ‘unacceptable’ rules.
Andrea Egan, the Unison general secretary, said in a video posted on X: “Over 600 members have written to us and provided examples of how the updated EHRC guidance is unworkable.
‘We’ve also heard many employers have withdrawn their trans equality policies in response to this guidance and that is unacceptable.’
Andrea Egan, Unison general secretary, has vowed to ‘fight’ against the EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces after the new rules came into effect earlier this month
rade unions have warned they are ‘wholeheartedly’ against new rules on single-sex spaces
She pledged to ‘take the fight to every workplace to make them trans inclusive’.
The NUS, which encompasses seven million students at 400 student associations, has been encouraging activists to ‘resist’ by putting up trans rights posters in toilets, setting up ‘inclusive sports teams’ and making their views heard on campus.
Avery Greatorex, the union’s vice-president for liberation and equality, told The Times: ‘We are wholeheartedly against this new guidance and believe that it is not the result of unbiased legal advice, as it should be, but is ideologically motivated by the so-called ‘gender-critical movement’.
Other trade unions publicly critical of the new rules include GMB, the British Medical Association and the University and College Union, alongside Equity, the union for performing arts, and PCS, which represents civil servants.
Fiona McAnena, of the sex-based rights group Sex Matters, said: ‘The mad rush by unions to prioritise the feelings of trans-identifying men over the rights of women to safety and dignity in the workplace is a shocking scandal.
‘Many of them have failed female members in their hour of need, including women who have been hounded from workplaces for saying that biological sex is a fact.’
Bridget Phillipson, minister for women and equalities, said there were still ‘clear protections’ within the Equality Act for trans people
Bridget Phillipson, minister for women and equalities, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this month that there ‘remain clear protections within the law under the Equality Act for trans people’.
She said it is ‘right’ there are ‘appropriate single-sex spaces such as women’s refuges, rape crisis centres, where women who’ve experienced male violence can get the support that they need in a safe environment, and the guidance makes clear how that can be delivered’.
But she continued: ‘What the guidance is also clear about is that everyone needs to have the right level of support and services, and there do remain clear protections within the law under the Equality Act for trans people who should not be on the receiving end of prejudice, intimidation, or harassment because of who they are.’
An EHRC spokesperson previously said it would monitor compliance with law and ‘take enforcement action where it is proportionate and necessary.’
