The Women’s and Some Men’s Institute.

The Women’s Institute is facing a potential schism after one of its leaders advised members to hold “sisterhood” meetings to get around a ban on transgender women, The Times can reveal.

Funny kind of sisterhood, trying to sneak men into an organization for women.

The suggestion prompted warnings that such a move could mark the end of the 110-year-old female-only network.

Oh stop with the “could” shit. Don’t be ridiculous. It would do that by definition. Of course adding men to the WI would – not could, would – mark the end of the female-only network.

This month the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) said it had decided to exclude trans women, males who identify as female, from joining the WI. Its chief executive Melissa Green said the decision had been taken with the “utmost regret and sadness” but insisted the single-sex organisation had no choice after a Supreme Court ruling in April defined “man” and “woman” as referring to biological sex under equality law.

Well phooey on Melissa Green. Men are not women.

The ban has been welcomed by gender-critical WI members who insist people cannot change sex and have previously railed against trans women being allowed to join.

Rude. Cynically, deliberately rude. Men insist or argue, women rail or rant or rage or squawk.

However, an internal “trans inclusion” meeting held via Zoom this month revealed the WI is now facing a split and discussions are under way among other members about defying the trans policy, which will come into effect next April.

The online session was hosted by Angie Leach, co-chair of the Surrey Federation of Women’s Institutes, which represents 8,000 women in WI groups across the county. A recording of the event seen by The Times showed Leach encouraging members to circumvent the ban by allowing trans women to attend the unofficial sisterhood meetings.

Why? Why is it so urgent to get some men into a thing for women?

Other women in the Zoom chat warned that the ban was “divisive and cruel” and would split the WI. Another member said trans allies within the WI were “a bit like a resistance”. Leach agreed that the new rules preventing trans women joining the WI were going to be “hateful”, expressing her distaste at the idea there would be a “hierarchy of women” whereby some were deemed to be more of a woman than others.

Wrong. Men are “deemed” to be zero a woman, by definition, because men are not women just as women are not men. Bucks are not does, stallions are not mares, cocks are not hens, bulls are not cows, men are not women.