13 hours ago
Mothers-to-be called ‘pregnant participants' in Government report
Expectant mothers have been described as 'pregnant participants' in a Government report.
The study into how passengers would react to emergencies in a self-driving taxi used the phrase nine times.
Similar wording, including 'pregnant passengers', 'pregnant users' and 'pregnant individuals' was used throughout the Department for Transport (DfT) report. Neither the phrase 'pregnant woman' nor the word 'mother' were mentioned.
However, the word 'transgender' was written 14 times while 'woman' featured just twice – and one of those times was in the phrase 'transgender woman'.
It's prompted critics to claim the report was an example of the public sector attempting to erase women's rights.
The Conservatives urged the Government to 'get a grip', while DfT insisted the study did not affect anyone's legal rights.
Written by Dr Clare Mutzenich of Lacuna Agency, a consultancy, the study looked at how expectant mothers, among other groups, reacted to various simulated emergencies while in a robot taxi.
It found that pregnant women felt more vulnerable than other groups when travelling in a driverless taxi during an emergency, such as a stranger trying to get in or a fire starting inside the car.
Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at the human rights charity Sex Matters, described the study's deliberate avoidance of the phrase 'pregnant women' as forming 'part of a broader erasure of women's needs'.
'It's very telling that the DfT refers to 'pregnant passengers' rather than pregnant 'women' in a study looking at how people with different protected characteristics may respond in an emergency situation,' Ms Joyce said.
'Only women can have the protected characteristic of 'pregnancy and maternity', and this study both obscures that fact and fails to consider the protected characteristic of 'sex' in its own right. The word 'woman' appears just twice, one of which refers to a 'transgender woman' – that is, a man who identifies as trans.
'This official, publicly funded research is part of a broader erasure of women's needs. It places pandering to gender ideologues ahead of objectively considering the specific safety needs of one of the largest groups of passengers – that is, women.'
Gareth Bacon, the shadow transport secretary, said: 'It says everything about this government that a Department for Transport report can't bring itself to call pregnant women what they are – women.
'This is what happens when ideology overrides common sense, and it's women who get erased. The Supreme Court has now made clear what we already knew, but rather than lead with clarity, Labour are still twisting themselves in knots. They need to get a grip.'
A think tank previously warned that public sector workers were refusing to accept the Supreme Court ruling, made earlier this year, on the legal definition of a woman.
Policy Exchange, a think tank, said in its Biology Matters Compendium, published earlier in June, showed that 'there is still a great deal of ideological capture in the policy and practice of many public institutions'.
'The defence of sex-based rights does not end with a court ruling. It requires persistent scrutiny, open debate, and the courage to challenge ideological orthodoxy wherever it may reside,' it said.
The Supreme Court's April judgment overturned a previous interpretation of the law, which had been promoted within the public sector by lobby groups such as Stonewall. Under what these groups insisted was correct, trans-identifying men had to be treated as if they were born female, including giving them access to women's toilets and changing rooms.
Some public sector workers felt bound to support this because of Labour's Equality Act 2010, which contains the legally binding 'public sector equality duty' that forces them to promote and fund pro-diversity initiatives.
A DfT spokesman defended the Lacuna Agency driverless taxi report by saying it included 'more than 30 references to 'female'.'
'The language used in the report, which was prepared by an external agency, does not impact any relevant legal obligations applying to women,' he said.
Lacuna Agency failed to respond to a request for comment.
It comes after a recent DfT U-turn on driverless car technology, with Uber announcing this month that it would be trialling such vehicles from spring next year. Previously, the Government had said that fully-driverless car technology would not be introduced until 2027 at the earliest.
