Tag: mark drakeford

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#WalesLosingWomen

#LabourLosingWomen is a hashtag has been floating around the internet for years, used by Socialist and left-wing feminists who are dissatisfied with Labour’s wholesale embrace of gender ideology. This embrace has involved the harassment of women in the party who are prepared to stand up for women’s spaces, women’s sports and women’s rights, such as Rosie Duffield and Tonia Antoniazzi. Labour Women’s Declaration (LWD) was founded in 2019 by stalwart feminist women, and has continued to press Labour to address the issue of gender. Although Merched Cymru has no political alignment, many of our members are, or have been, Labour voters and members, in line with the Welsh electorate as a whole. Continue reading “#WalesLosingWomen”

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Merched Cymru files complaint against Mark Drakeford for sexist response to Laura Anne Jones

Formal Complaint to the Standards Commissioner

On behalf of Merched Cymru we wish to lodge a formal complaint against First Minister Mark Drakeford regarding his sexist and aggressive response to a question from Laura Anne Jones MS in the Senedd on 9 May 2023.

His angry dismissal of her concerns as ‘shrill’ was clearly discriminatory. This insult is reserved exclusively for women who men wish to silence or ignore. It is a sexist trope that has no place in the Senedd, and which we had assumed was now a part of history.

The ad hominem linking of Ms Jones’ question on the meaning of the word ‘woman’ (an issue which goes to the heart of our sex-based rights) with racism and attacks on asylum-seekers was highly disingenuous and a clear attempt both to avoid the issue and to discredit Ms Jones personally. Continue reading “Merched Cymru files complaint against Mark Drakeford for sexist response to Laura Anne Jones”

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Letter to Eluned Morgan, Minister for Health and Social Services

Dear Minister

We write to draw your attention to the group litigation being prepared by families of children and young people treated at the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman Trust.

This follows the failings highlighted in the interim Cass report and the subsequent decision to close GIDS.

Gender distressed children and young people from Wales have been referred to GIDS. They will have been subject to these same failings.

Continue reading “Letter to Eluned Morgan, Minister for Health and Social Services”

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Policy-making in Wales: Evidence-free, anti-democratic, and misogynist

Today Hannah Blythyn, the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, gave an update on the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan.

The responses to the consultation have not yet been published – possibly because many were critical of the way in which the Plan undermined the sex-based rights of women and girls – but Welsh Government are pushing ahead regardless. Continue reading “Policy-making in Wales: Evidence-free, anti-democratic, and misogynist”

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An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Fair Play for Women

Roviel Detanamo, Tania Edwards and Angie Marino all lost their places in the 2021 Olympics to male athletes.

Dear Mark Drakeford

You propose dialogue and understanding to answer the questions about trans gender inclusion in female sport. We would welcome a dialogue with you. Like you, we favour inclusion. That is made possible in sport by creating categories for different bodies. Children compete in age groups because otherwise they would be disadvantaged. Older athletes find meaningful competition through masters events with their own age group. In combat sports, weight classes are used too. But the category most commonly used in sport, the one with its own section in the UK Equality Act, is sex. Male puberty confers so great an advantage in gender-affected sport that it is not fair – and in some sports not safe – to have male and female bodies in the same events. There is an average sex performance gap of at least 10%, and in some sports up to 50%, while races are won by fractions of one percent. Without sex categories, all sport would be male sport. There would be no female Olympians or World Champions. The few exceptions like equestrian and shooting only prove the rule. Continue reading “An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Fair Play for Women”