Green council administration set to develop new 'gender-based violence' strategy

It comes in response to a Supreme Court ruling that limited the definition of women to biological sex, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

A Pride flag (credit LDRS) and (inset) Tehseen Khan — A Pride flag (credit LDRS) and (inset) cabinet member Tehseen Khan

Haringey Council has promised an “uncompromising” commitment to preventing violence against women and girls “whether they are trans or cisgender”.

The comments were made made by Tehseen Khan, co-cabinet member for health and social care at the local authority, at a cabinet meeting last week (Tuesday 15th).

It comes as the recently-established Green administration looks to take a more progressive approach to recognising – and supporting – the borough’s trans community, which has included vocal disagreement with government recommendations.

Addressing responses made by members of the opposition on the council’s Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, Cllr Khan said: “Trans people, including trans women, trans men and non-binary people, experience high levels of domestic abuse, sexual violence and harassment and they do face additional barriers when seeking help.

“That means we must be uncompromising in our commitment to women and girls, whether they are trans or cisgender, as well as recognising the violence, abuse and harassment faced by gender-diverse people.”

In March, the council’s overview and scrutiny committee agreed a number of amendments in its draft review report on council VAWG policies. Both the draft and ‘final’ version of the review were carried out by a combination of Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors.

Both versions called for a review of the council’s VAWG policy to ensure that its services “reflect” the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 as “established” by the Supreme Court.

As part of this, they also requested “specialist provision” be available in Haringey for “people who fall outside of the legal definition”.

It follows a controversial ruling made by the UK Supreme Court in April last year. The court, acting in its role as the highest legal authority in the country, “concluded” that references to “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 only referred to “to biological sex” – the sex of a person at birth.

Although this judgement has not changed the law, the government believes it has given “an authoritative interpretation” of how the Equality Act should be interpreted.

This view was reinforced by new equalities guidance introduced by the Labour government last month. In response, council leader Mark Blake joined the heads of five other Green-led boroughs in sending a letter to the government, describing the changes as “harmful to the rights of trans people” and “simply unacceptable”.

Nevertheless, addressing VAWG recommendations from the opposition scrutiny committee, the local authority said it recognised the Supreme Court’s ruling and the code of practice of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in relation to the Equality Act 2010.

Under this framework, trans women who experience gender-based violence are “for the purposes of the protected characteristic of sex”, considered to be the sex “they were assigned at birth, regardless of their gender or certified sex”.

However, divisions between this and the views of senior Green councillors remain. Speaking last week, Cllr Khan said: “Our approach must ensure that we have a range of services that are safe, accessible and non-discriminatory.”

There is a “strong case”, he added, for the council to reassess its framework in the near future. This could include a re-framing of the issue of violence against women that would see it become part of a broader ‘gender-based violence’ strategy from the council, expected to “be developed from 2027”.

Explaining this argument, Cllr Khan said the term “better captures the reality that violence rooted in gender does not only affect women and girls, while still allowing us to keep focus on the forms of abuse that do disproportionately affect them”.

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