Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill — House of Lords, 2021-02-25
Topic: Civil Rights
Ruth Deech (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords—or, taking a cue from the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, how long will it be before I ought to say "My peers"?—these amendments are less about maternity leave, although even that word is now suspect, than they are about the proper use of language to reflect and protect those to whom it refers, some of whom have a special status within the law. If I can cut straight to the solution, it is this. The Interpretation Act 1978 says that "words importing the feminine gender include the masculine", so if the words "mother" or "woman" are used in this Bill, which incidentally and memorably Joshua Rozenberg has referred to as the "Suella Braverperson Bill", an individual trans person—a man who had given birth— would be covered by the words "woman" or "mother" in the same way that allowances granted to men in other areas of the law include women in their remit. So there is no reason why "woman" should not be used, although I accept that there is a consensus around "mother" As drafted, the word "person"—as distinct from "woman"—in this Bill could only be of application to a person born a woman who transitions, gives birth, is a Minister, seeks maternity leave and is bothered about terminology. This number is too small to count. Set against that the worldwide population of women who feel that obliteration of their being is offensive. Human rights organisations have called for the retention of gender-specific language in law because, by neutralising the language, the actual issue is also neutralised. The international NGO Plan International, writing about the needs of girls and women, calls for their protection to be maintained by using the right terminology. It may not be true of women in this House or country, but the status of many women around the world as mothers and child-bearers is all-important and must not be overlooked Going wider than the Bill, the use of neutral language is confusing, as has been said, for those who have little command of the English language. In health situations, one risks not reaching them by using phrases such as "persons with cervices", "menstruators" and "persons with vaginas". How would noble persons, otherwise known as noble Lords, like to be referred to in health communications as "persons with prostates" or "sperm producers"? As for the threat to free speech, I assure the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, that it certainly exists: if you try talking at UCL, KCL, Warwick and many other universities, including Cambridge, about Zionism, Israel, Jews, genetics or social mobility, you will be shut down Existing law is entirely in favour of retaining the words "mother" or "woman". The McConnell case was about a man who started IVF treatment just six days after obtaining his gender recognition certificate, which was granted because he had made a declaration that he intended to continue to live as a man until death. He had not had a hysterectomy in part because, reportedly, he had not ruled out the possibility of having children. Section 12 of the Gender Recognition Act says that the status of a person as "the father or mother of a child" is not affected by the acquisition of a gender under that Act—so the court ruled that it was correct to list the man as the mother of his baby on the birth certificate, having regard to the rights and welfare of the child. As such, in this Bill we can speak of "mother" without in any way limiting the status of a trans person in a new gender Other laws confirm this. Section 33 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 defines a mother as: "The woman who is carrying or has carried a child" The Equality Act 2010 refers repeatedly to "man" and "woman", "male" and "female". In Section 13, it says that a "protected characteristic" includes a woman who is breastfeeding and that, when a man is treated differently and might regard that as discrimination, "no account is to be taken of special treatment afforded to a woman in connection with pregnancy or childbirth." Section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016 prevents the "detention of pregnant women". Regulation 12 of the Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 refers to "a child born to a woman during her civil partnership with a man." As such, by supporting these amendments, let us reinforce clarity, precision and dignity in language, preserve the special status of women in childbearing and motherhood, follow precedent and simply show some common sense. I thank the noble person, Lord True, for all that he has done in this respect, and I hope that he does not get trolled. I commend these amendments to your persons’ House.