Background
Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) is a national membership and campaigns body.
We work in partnership with a network of specialist, community-based Rape Crisis centres that primarily – or solely – focus on sexual violence and abuse, and meet the 2024 Rape Crisis National Service Standards (RCNSS).
Our member Rape Crisis centres are independent organisations with their own local partnerships, commissioning arrangements and models of support. They provide a range of one-to-one and group-based counselling, advocacy and other forms of support focused on empowerment and recovery from sexual violence and abuse. None of our member centres provide shared or overnight accommodation, intimate examinations, or communal showers or changing facilities.
Rape and sexual abuse are devastating – and devastatingly common – crimes, and there is no less of a rape crisis now than there was 50 years ago when our movement started.
While our charity's core purpose is to relieve the trauma and distress of women and girls who have experienced any form of sexual violence and abuse, we believe that every victim or survivor should be able to access the right support for them – whenever they need it and for as long as they need it. This applies as much to survivors who are male, trans and/or gender non-conforming, as it does to women and girls.
Sex and gender: our approach
Our feminist analysis of sexual violence and abuse (and all forms of violence against women and girls) means we recognise that sexual violence and abuse is:
- Disproportionately perpetrated by males.
- Disproportionately experienced by females, and
- Rooted in social, cultural and institutional practices which enable perpetrator impunity and encourage the discrediting, silencing and shaming of survivors.
This feminist analysis does not hold that males or gender diverse people are never victimised, nor that men are always and inherently abusive.
It does recognise the role and influence of sex and gender in how violence is perpetrated and experienced. And that, while men, women and gender diverse people often share similar experiences, they may also have differing needs when it comes to the services they access.
Who do our member centres offer services to?
Depending on a range of factors, including their charitable objects, facilities and commissioning requirements, many Rape Crisis centres offer services to men, boys and gender diverse people – some have always done so.
Other Rape Crisis centres don’t work with these communities, but have established referral pathways in their local areas to ensure that every survivor receives a service appropriate for them.
Decisions about who centres are able to work with are within the purview of each individual organisation. Ensuring that responses are respectful, supportive and transparent is within ours.
Women-only spaces within the Rape Crisis movement
Consistent with our feminist ethos, all Rape Crisis centres are required to be women-led and to provide ‘women-only spaces' as a condition of their RCNSS accreditation.
This does not mean that entire buildings, staff teams or services must be women-only. Rather, centres must provide and protect dedicated spaces and times for women and girls to access their services.
The definition and provision of ‘women-only spaces’ has been a powerfully emotive topic within the women's sector, as it has been in wider society. This has been compounded by divisive media coverage and a lack of sufficient legislative clarity or statutory guidance to support service providers to understand how the 2010 Equality Act and 2004 Gender Recognition Act interact with one another, and the relevance of this to service provision.
The severe underfunding of our sector over many years has added to this picture, forcing many Rape Crisis centres to have to make very difficult decisions about who they can help, and how.
How our member centres have defined 'women-only spaces'
For a range of reasons, Rape Crisis centres have needed (and in many cases wanted) to define for themselves whether – and how – the women-only spaces they provide include those who identify as trans and/or non-binary.
Consequently, there currently exist significant variations in the definition of ‘women-only spaces’ within our network. Some exclude trans and non-binary people altogether, some offer their services to these communities separately from biological females. Others include trans and non-binary people in all of their designated women-only spaces (including groups) as their default service model.
All have tried to work within the law as they understand it, and to prioritise the welfare of survivors as best they can.
Important developments
As the membership body for Rape Crisis centres, we respect their autonomy and expertise to determine and manage their own policies and referral pathways – providing these respect the law and that survivors are given clear, transparent information about their services and how they’re delivered.
This position was communicated to our members and stakeholders as part of our response to the Roz Adams vs Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre Employment Tribunal, and associated learnings from the independent review of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre conducted by Vicky Ling.
We’ve undertaken significant work on these learnings within Rape Crisis England & Wales, and expect to continue to do so. We think it’s important that all centres undertake assessments of the impact of their policies, provide clear and coherent descriptions of their services (however they choose to deliver them), to ensure informed consent, and do not discriminate against survivors or staff, nor inadvertently discourage anyone from seeking support.
Later this year, a legal case brought by Sarah Summers against Survivors Network – one of our centres in East Sussex – will provide further learning and legal clarity, as it considers whether not providing a women-only group for biological women, alongside one that included trans and non-binary people, amounted to discrimination.
Supreme Court judgment
The recent judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent) has clarified that where the Equality Act 2010 is concerned, the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ refer to biological sex and not gender identity, and that a Gender Recognition Certificate does not alter this.
This ruling has implications for many aspects of equality law in the UK. We note that the Equality and Human Rights Commission will publish an updated Code of Practice to support service providers, public bodies and associations to understand these duties and put them into practice.
Our response
We will be reviewing this updated code and any other statutory guidance, including from the Charity Commission. We will also be reviewing our own policies and taking appropriate legal and other forms of advice, to inform our understanding of how the judgment may impact on us, Rape Crisis centres and the RCNSS. Information and updates about this issue will be published on our website.
We’ve been encouraged by the respectful, nuanced and thoughtful responses to our approach on this issue, and by discussions we’ve had with stakeholders across the sector about it.
We hope that we can continue to have such discussions, even where there exists disagreement between us, and as our understanding of the relevant issues develops.