We members and supporters of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) are fully committed to the Party’s Core Values to address the climate and ecological emergencies and transform society for the benefit of all and the planet as a whole.

We believe that democratic participation and accountability should be our organising principles and are deeply concerned that voices speaking up for women’s hard won sex-based rights are being silenced in the Green Party.

We know that globally women, as a sex, are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental degradation, and that their empowerment is essential to our work as environmentalists.

We believe that:

1. Women and girls are subject to discrimination and oppression on the basis of their sex, hence sex is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act (2010).
2. Sex-based language is vital in identifying and calling out this oppression, and women and girls must retain the right to the use of language specifically referring to female anatomy, for the purposes of dignity, safety and health.
3. Sex should not be confused with gender. Sex is a biological reality and is both the site of and the excuse for women’s oppression. Sex should therefore be added at Item 6 of the GPEW’s Core Values, in line with the Equality Act (2010).
4. Women and girls have the right to maintain their sex-based protections as set out in the Equality Act (2010), including female only spaces such as changing rooms, hospital wards, sanitary and sleeping accommodation, refuges, hostels and prisons. Women have the right to refuse consent to males being in these female-only spaces or males delivering intimate services to females such as washing, dressing or counselling.
5. Women and girls have the right to: Protection against any discrimination; freedom of belief; freedom of expression; freedom of assembly (Articles 7, 18, 19 and 20 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
6. Women and girls have the right to organise themselves, as a sex, across a range of cultural, leisure, sporting, educational and political activities.
7. Lesbians are, by definition, women who are same-sex attracted and are entitled to organise and create spaces based on that definition.
8. Women and girls have the right to discuss policies which affect them, without being abused, harassed or intimidated.

We reject all attempts to undermine or limit the rights of women to self-organise and we call on, and expect, the GPEW and the wider green movement to actively support these essential freedoms.

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Founding Signatories

Adrian Briggs
Agnieszka Keeling
Ajay Stubbington-Bohr
Alex Geddis
Alison Teal
Alison Whalley
Alix Goldring
Andi Cornfield
Andrea Carey Fuller
Andrew Simpson
Andy Healey
Anna Heyman
Anne Baker
Annie Johnson
Annie Neligan
Anoushka Havinden
Beatrix Campbell
Becky Nixon
Becky Francombe
Bernadette Hyland
Bev Maltby
Brig Oubridge
Caitlin Collins
Catherine Bunting
Cherry Puddicombe
Cherry Bird
Chris Holt
Chris Padley
Christine Johnson
Claire Blezard
Claire Tchaikowski
Clare Long-Summers
Claudine Letsae
Darren Johnson
David Flint
Dawn Furness
Dawn Lawrence
Deborah Fink
Dede Liss
Dee Coombes
Dee Searle
Delia Hazrati
Diana Toynbee
Diane Green
Diane Jones
Dinah Morgan
Dominica Maxted
Donna Wallace
Dorothy Nalubega
Eileen O’Haire
Elizabeth Mansfield
Emma Bateman
Eric Walker
Fiona Kirton
Freda Davis
Gina Dowding
Gisela Renolds
Gordon Sharp
Hazel Pegg
Heather Jargus
Helen Steel
Hilary Gardner
Imogen Makepeace
Indar Picton-Howell
Ivan Noke
Jan Clark
Janet Alty
Jay Ginn
Jaye Nolan
Jenny Haynes
Jenny Ross
Jenny Rust
Jessica Goldfinch
Jessica Winkler
Jill Mills
Jill Raymond
Jo Campbell
Jo Rosney Lee
Jocelyn Gaskell
John Somerville
Jude English
Judy Maciejowska
Julie Daniels
Julie Irvine
Karen Barr
Kat Boettge
Kate Souper
Kerri Edmondson
Kerryann Lund
Kia Makepeace
Lawrence Brown
Lin MacCallum Stewart
Linda Calvert
Linda Oubridge
Linda Pepper
Lizzy Hones
Lois Davis
Louise Somerville
Lucy Watson
Lydia Vulliamy
Madeleine Broderick
Maire Smith
Mandy Vere
Marcus Grant
Margaret Adams
Mariette Labelle
Mark James
Mike Shone
Mo Kelly
Monica Bijok
Morven Magari
Nathan Williams
Niamh MacMahon
Nicola Watson
Nicole Haydock
Obi-Raymundo Abedencio
Peter Barnett
Peter Garbutt
Peter Hughes
Rachael Sweeting
Rachel Hardy
Rachel Western
Rebecca Van Tassell
Robbie Spence
Roy Francombe
Roy Clay
Ruth Jacobs
Sally Palmer
Sandy Irvine
Sara Mai
Sarah Blenkinsop
Sarah Bond
Sarah Phillimore
Sarra Earl
Shabanah Fazal
Sian Charnley
Siobhan Scanlan
Solange Hughes
Steve Moses
Steve Trafford
Stewart Gibb
Sue Corner
Sue Williams
Sue Wright
Susan Green
Susan Westlake
Theo Simon
Tom Killick
Tony Seaman
Vicky Meadows
William Heslam
Wilma Fraser
Zoe Hatch
Zoe Richards