Focus

You’d think journalists could do better than this. A lot better.

NUJ statement on revised EHRC Equality Act Code of Practice

The NUJ has responded to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) revised Code of Practice for businesses and service providers on how to comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The updated code comes after significant public and legal debate following the UK Supreme Court ruling in April last year that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ under the Equality Act 2010 refer strictly to biological sex assigned at birth.

Because wtf else would it refer to? Strictly or sloppily? If the word “woman” doesn’t refer strictly to women then we’ll just need a new word that does. The category itself is not one that we can simply throw out as otiose and harmful, now is it. Without the category there are no people. There are some words we could do without if we had to. The word “trans” might be a good place to start – or we could clean out all the synonyms. But there are other words that are just not dispensable, and there’s a strong argument that “women” is the very first item on that list. Without women, no people, no words, no lists – just grasses waving in the breeze.

The word is important, therefore its meaning is important, therefore changing its meaning at the behest of damn fools like the one at the National Union of Journalists.