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Publication - FOI/EIR release

Literature review of Consultation on gender recognition - Clarification on transition: FOI release

Published
3 March 2020
Directorate
Justice Directorate
Topic
Equality and rights, Law and order, Public sector
FOI reference
FOI/202000014754
Date received
4 February 2020
Date responded
2 March 2020

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

You asked for "Thank-you for your response to FOI request FOI/202000011201. In Document 6 (Later Version of Literature Review), the following statement appears on page 3: "we know that many trans women already access these services and spaces". Please could you provide the evidence and analysis on which that knowledge is based and, in providing that, make clear whether it relates to those who are at any stage of transition or only to those who have transitioned to a particular degree?"

Response

The statement to which you refer in the Literature Review is based on a variety of sources.

There is information provided to the Scottish Government in response to the 2017/2018 consultation on gender recognition.

For example, Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre noted in their response "Our centre currently have women’s only times and spaces and we recognise that trans women - and trans women on the basis of self-declaration - are women, and are therefore included in those spaces. The safety of our spaces is dependent on our routine risk assessment, practice and policy, and not on the identities of the people who are in them.”

The Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre noted in their response "We are aware that there is discourse which suggests that a system of self-declaration would be a threat to women’s safe spaces. This is not our viewpoint. We want to emphasise that we already welcome self-identifying trans women into our safe spaces, that their inclusion does not in any way determine the safety of that space and that to suggest otherwise would be a disservice not only to our trans service users, but to the trans women working within our sector creating those safe spaces every day."

In addition, there is information cited in the Literature  Review to  which you refer. For example,  Stonewall & NPF Synergy, 2018. Supporting Trans Women in Domestic and Sexual Violence Services: Interviews with Professionals in the Sector."

There is also information cited in the Literature Review and in the draft Equality Impact Assessment attached to the consultation document itself. For example, Dunne, P., 2017. (Trans)forming Single Gender Services and Communal Accommodations. Social and Legal Studies, 26(5).

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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