UCL hosting A Woman’s Place UK conference sparks concern
This weekend, members of the UCL community raised concerns that an allegedly transphobic group will be hosted on campus next month.
UCL Women’s Liberation Special Interest Group will be hosting A Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) at the Institute of Education on February 1st for a conference to celebrate the resurgence of Women’s Liberation. Keynote speakers include Joanna Cherry QC MP, Pragna Patel, and Maya Forstater. Forstater recently made headlines after she lost her job at the Centre for Global Development for tweeting that transgender women cannot change their biological sex.
UCL Women’s Liberation Special Interest Group brings together staff from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds whose research addresses socio-political issues concerning women’s rights. The group is convened by Dr Holly Smith, Lecturer in Higher Education, Professor Judith Suissa, Philosopher of Education, and Professor Alice Sullivan, Sociologist and Director of the 1970 British Cohort Study.
Their web page states their aim is to “generate conversation in the context of contemporary debates on the nature of sex and gender inequalities and the extent to which they are rooted in biology, social structures, and individual identities.” In an announcement about the WPUK conference, they write that UCL is a fitting venue because UCL was the first university in the UK to admit women on an equal basis to men.
Established in 2017, WPUK have been accused of transphobia, based on an opposition to the proposed improvements to the Gender Recognition Act, and to gender-neutral spaces such as bathrooms.
On January 15th, an anonymous UCLove contributor wrote: “A bunch of UCL academics are planning to host an extremely transphobic group for a day long conference at IoE.” The post received 79 reactions and 102 comments. Some felt that it is “absolutely disgraceful that UCL allows hate speech and anti-minority groups on campus,” while others wanted to know whether there is “anything that can be done to openly criticise and shut this conference down?”
A follow-up post on January 19th shared a document prepared by UCL staff and student liberation networks, and requested that anyone concerned about UCL hosting the conference sign with their name and affiliation.
The post also noted an appeal was made to UCL regarding the conference. The appeal was a request for balanced and informed discussion, representing all sides of debate, as opposed to a closed-door event. However, the user reports that this appeal was “totally brushed aside”, and UCL said they “cannot ask organisers to modify their programme.”
The document argues that there are a number of irregularities in the advertising of the conference, and that WPUK’s views on gender identity are at odds with UCL’s commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, as well as being in direct contradiction with Stonewall’s UK Workplace Equality Index.
Authors of the document write that the conference “will result in huge backlash from staff and students,” and will cause reputational, in addition to emotional, damage. They request that “UCL withdraw their support in providing physical space for WPUK.”
The document has 53 signatures at the time of writing. Signatures include numerous UCL students, Students’ Union Trans and Women’s Officers, Max Sasha Tscheltzoff and Nilisha Vashist, as well as several UCL academics, such as Prof. Anson W. Mackay, Vice Dean of Social and Historical Sciences, and Dr. Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, Vice Dean of the Arts and Humanities Faculty.
On the Women’s Network Facebook page, Vashist denounced the biological reductionism of gender and noted that the struggles of transwomen are part of the feminist struggle, explaining that “feminism, as it should, will always reach out to other marginalizations- within and beyond, mindful of the intersections and multiple oppression that make all of us up.”
Speaking to Pi News, Vashist elaborated: “members of the network expressed their disappointment with UCL in failing its duty of care and organising a conference in the name of academic freedom where only one side of the debate is presented and consequently other voices which speak for cis-allyship with transwomen and recognition of trans human rights are silenced.”
In October 2019, similar concerns were raised by students at the University of Oxford when WPUK held a meeting in university buildings. In response, Trans Action Oxford led a demonstration in support of trans rights, with an aim to re-centre trans voices and encourage respectful and tolerant discussion. At UCL, this issue follows the report in October 2018 that five UCL professors signed a letter to the Guardian detailing their concerns about reforms to the Gender Recognition Act.
Both UCL and the Students’ Union are expected to issue a statement clarifying their stance on the conference in the coming days.
UCL Women’s Liberation SIG responded with the following comments on 22nd January 2020:
This conference will be celebrating the amazing and courageous women who have dedicated their lives to fighting for women’s rights, to protecting the most vulnerable women and girls in society, and to campaigning to end sexism in our legal systems, our education systems and our social practices. Speakers at the conference include survivors of the sex trade, lesbians, disabled women, women of colour, leading academics, legal experts and experienced activists from the third sector and the labour movement. The Women’s Liberation Conference 2020 is an inclusive event, open to men, women, and those who identify as trans. We hope all attendees will come together with the common aspiration of working to end the historic oppression of women.
WPUK responded with the following comments on 23rd January 2020:
WPUK is a campaign committed to upholding women’s sex-based rights as they exist in the law. We are astonished that anyone should be calling to shut down an event which has been organised to mark 50 years since the first UK Women’s Liberation movement conference. We believe this is an event to be celebrated and supported and we thank UCL for their commitment to women's rights and freedom of expression.
This article has been amended since publication to include response statements and correct information about WPUK.