FACT SHEET ON SEX-BASED RIGHTS AND GENDER IDENTITY
Why we need to #AmendTheEqualityAct
1. Discrimination against women based on sex remains a prominent feature of contemporary American society. See www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/4482141/quick-facts-genderwage-gap/.
The workplace remains highly segregated by sex. So-called women’s jobs tend to offer lower pay and fewer benefits than so-called men’s jobs;
Women on average make just 82 cents for every $1 earned by men of all races. The wage gap is even larger for women of color;
Women have lower retirement benefits than men.
2. Physical and sexual violence by biological males against those born female including acts of femicide remains pervasive.
A staggering one in three females experience physical and sexual assault by males. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/11/1052041
Approximately 2,000 females per year are murdered by males. https://countercurrents.org/2017/04/what-if-i-told-you-2000-women-per-year-aremurdered-by-men-they-know-interview-with-dawn-wilcox/
3. Persons born and socialized male who identify as women can be both victims and perpetrators of male - pattern violence.
A long-term study of transgender individuals concluded that males who identify as transgender maintained male patterns of criminality and violence post-transition: “…regarding any crime, male-to-females had a significantly increased risk for crime compared to female controls (aHR 6.6; 95% CI 4.1–10.8) but not compared to males (aHR 0.8; 95% CI 0.5–1.2). This indicates that they retained a male pattern regarding criminality. The same was true regarding violent crime.” https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885
There is ample anecdotal evidence of male violence against females by transgender people born male to show that they may exhibit such violence as do other males. See, e.g., https://www.peaktrans.org/crime/.
Numerous studies indicate that 85-90% of males who identify as women retain male genitalia. See, e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5875299/.
4. Women and girls as a sex need female-only facilities and shelters for privacy, safety, comfort, and dignity and to preserve their ability to participate freely and fully in education, the workplace, and in public life.
Target’s establishment of a gender neutral changing room policy in April, 2016 is associated with a two to three times increase in incidents of voyeurism by males. Over 99% of the victims were women and girls. http://womanmeanssomething.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ALongitudinal-Analysis-of-Media-Reports-at-Target-Stores.pdf
Predatory males have and will perpetrate sexual violence against women where there are greater opportunities. http://womanmeanssomething.com/violencedatabase/
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has urged governments around to world to prioritize establishing of single sex toilets in schools, warning that as many as 1 in 10 girls are missing out on lessons because of their periods. “Single sex toilets are desperately needed to overcome girls’ barriers to education.” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/single-sex-toilets-unesco-un-internationalwomens-day-period-a8244776.html
In New Zealand, women working in transport industries reported that they were taking medication to dehydrate themselves because they can't access a female toilet at work, according to the Rail & Maritime Transport Union (RMTU). At a union forum, female workers shared horror stories about the facilities available to them in the historically male-dominated industries, particularly rail. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/women-dehydratingthemselves-due-to-no-toilets-at-work-union-says/COSNIPKMT4SAFEWT235VVPCF4M/
5. Female only programs are necessary to provide equal opportunity for women and girls in education and employment denied them based on sex.
Just like race-blindness policies can contribute to institutional racism, sex blindness can prevent proactive measures to correct sex-based inequities and therefore perpetuate sexism. https://www.agsa.org.au/why-a-girls-school-the-research/research-shows-girls-benefit-from-single-sex-environments/
6. The Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act (https://feministstruggle.org/faea/) would be a “win-win” for all oppressed and marginalized groups by:
preserving the rights and protections of women as a sex under federal law;
resolving any confusion or conflict of rights that has emerged due to the conflation of sex and gender identity that erodes both women’s sex-based rights and the rights of lesbians and gay men to engage exclusively in same sex relationships;
adding federal statutory protections based on sexual orientation and sex stereotyping, thereby providing full legal protection for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and trans-identified people and all gender non-conforming persons against discrimination in education, employment, housing and public accommodations.
Also see our previous post with template scripts for calling and writing your representatives, which includes links to find your representatives: https://lgballianceusa.substack.com/p/sample-scripts-to-amend-the-equality.
We also share here the video documentary, ‘TERF.’ From the creator: “This compilation of footage briefly showcases some of the influence that gender-identity ideology is imposing on the lives of women and girls, from 'the cotton ceiling' to transition houses, women's and girl's sports teams, Big Pharma's impact on children, to the de-platforming and witch hunts of feminists like Maya Dillard-Smith, Julie Bindel, Meghan Murphy and other women who dare to speak out.”
For more information or to volunteer, please email the Coalition for the Feminist Amendments at info@sexbasedrights.org.