Nicola Sturgeon has provoked a backlash from feminist groups after refusing to define the word “woman”, saying it would harm transgender people.
The first minister became the last politician to express a reluctance to explain what he thought the woman was, arguing that “oversimplifying” the debate on trans rights would cause suffering for a vulnerable group.
Some trans activists claim that a transgender woman is literally a woman, regardless of their biological sex.
In an interview with The Times ahead of Thursday’s local election, where the SNP plans to allow Scots to change their legal gender simply by making the declaration a threshold issue, Ms Sturgeon declined to offer a definition.
Asked to define the word woman, she said: “I will not do it. I’m just not going to get into that debate on a level that has to do with simplistic and sinister headlines. “
She added: “Trans people are probably one of the most stigmatized and discriminated minorities in our society.
“And every time we simplify this debate, trance people actually suffer. And I think it’s important that they are such a small minority that we actually take the issue of protecting and strengthening the rights of trans people seriously.
Her comments came weeks after Labor’s Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer struggled to say whether he believed a woman could have a penis.
Boris Johnson said the “basic facts of biology” were “extremely important” in distinguishing between men and women.
First minister vows to fight “to the death”
Ms. Sturgeon’s reforms in Holyrood will allow Scots to change their legal gender by signing a declaration eliminating the need for a medical diagnosis or medical approval.
Several mass women’s groups have been set up to combat change, arguing that they pose a risk to women’s safety and rights in areas such as sport and the workplace.
However, the first minister said she would say “out of breath” that there is no conflict between women’s rights and trance.
Susan Smith, campaign director for the Women in Scotland group, said Ms Sturgeon’s refusal to define women was “depressing but not unexpected”.
Feminist reaction against SNP proposals
Ms. Smith accused her of dismissing legitimate concerns about her plans to change the law.
For women, Scotland said politicians should have no problem using the vocabulary definition of “adult human woman” when asked to define a woman.
She added: “This is the first minister to say he opposes sexism in politics, but he cannot force himself to meet and talk to women affected by her policies. Her experience in dealing with harassment and abuse in her own party leaves much to be desired.
“Her proposals for self-identification are not for ‘trans people’, but for anyone who decides, for some reason, to change gender by law.
“All evidence of harm to girls in school forced to use mixed sex facilities, to women in prison, to hundreds of girls who establish themselves as the opposite sex and embark on the path to lifelong medical treatment must be rejected and rejected.”
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