The Gender Recognition Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 27 November 2003. It was passed by the House of Lords on 10 February 2004, with 155 votes in favour and 57 against. The House of Commons passed it on 25 May.…
Category: Gender recognition
Gender recognition reform: are women’s concerns valid?
In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland on 10 September, the First Minister stated that women’s concerns about GRA reform were “not valid” and that it “does not change in any way, shape or form any legal…
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Gender recognition reform and international developments
The current reliance on 'international developments' in relation to gender recognition reform is under-researched and misplaced. The Scottish Government needs to look much more critically at the precedents legislated for in other countries and to consider how gender self-declaration laws…
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MBM statement on Scottish Government Programme for Government announcement on GRA reform
“The consultation on the previous draft Bill raised serious questions that currently remain unanswered. These include a failure to address the interaction between self-declaration and the operation of single-sex exemptions under the Equality Act 2010, and a failure to define…
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Missing data, cost cutting, and delayed publication
The Scottish Government has now published the independent analysis of the responses to the consultation on the draft Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. In total 17,058 responses were available for analysis, the vast majority submitted by individuals (16,843), with a…
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Lisa Mackenzie’s speech to FWS rally, 2 September 2021
Lisa Mackenzie's speech at the For Women Scotland rally outside the Scottish Parliament, 2 September 2021 https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/LISA-SPEECH-FWS-RALLY-020921.pdf
Gender recognition reform: consultation and transparency
Gender recognition reform: consultation and transparency On 20 August 2021 the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party published its Draft Shared Policy Programme. This stated: “We will reform the Gender Recognition Act in a Bill introduced in the first year…
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New crowdfunder: Keeping sight of women’s rights in policy and law
Over the past two and a half years, we have researched and written about women’s sex-based rights and gender self-identification across different areas of public policy in the UK. We engage regularly with key decision makers and, within a short period of time, have established a strong record of impact based on careful research and analysis.
MBM activity report: December 2020 to May 2021
Overview of our activity for the six month period from December 2020 to May 2021.
Our view on sex, gender identity and policy-making
We recognise that both sex and self-identified gender may be relevant to people‘s lived experiences, and believe that public authorities need to ensure that the interests of everyone are balanced fairly, in the least discriminatory way possible.To achieve this, public policy-making needs to recognise the importance of sex as a protected characteristic under the Equality…
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