Chamber and committees

Minister, I have a few questions, so I ask you to bear with me.

I want to ask about a point that I have brought up with many witnesses. There are nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, and characteristics such as religion and sex come into conflict with issues around gender identity. For example, as I brought up in relation to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, many BAME and religious women do not feel comfortable having procedures such as smear tests and breast examinations performed by biological males, including trans women. Similarly, Sandie Peggie was suspended for refusing to share a changing room with a biological male who did not even have a gender recognition certificate. All too often, it looks as if women are thrown under the bus in favour of trans ideology. Will that be the case for every woman of religion or colour if they come forward and say they cannot undress in front of or be examined by a biological male? Do you think that it is okay for women and girls, including those of BAME and religious backgrounds, to be undressing in front of biological males?

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 state that changing rooms

“shall not be suitable unless they include separate facilities for, or separate use of facilities by, men and women where necessary for reasons of propriety”.

It is the Scottish Government’s duty to ensure that all public bodies comply with such regulations. However, we have seen female nurses and female police officers being forced to share changing facilities with biologically male colleagues. Why are the health boards and Police Scotland not complying with the regulations?

Thank you.

Does anybody else want to come in on that question? It appears not.

My next question is for Jill Wood. Do you think that lesbian clubs and associations with 25 or more members should be able to exclude all males, including those with gender recognition certificates?

You would not be able to comment on the issue.

You are absolutely right that we should not discriminate against anybody. I would like to dive into what you said about the policies. With regard to the issues that arise in relation to cases such as the police searching somebody or someone in the NHS changing in front of a biological male—or a trans woman, I should say—do you think that the law is not clear enough, or is the problem with the policies and guidance? As I said to Rohini Sharma Joshi, there is a lot of confusion out there, and—whether it is in the police, the NHS or wherever—someone does one thing and thinks that they are obeying the law, but someone else does something else and thinks that they are obeying the law. Everybody is very confused.

I think that people from all backgrounds, whatever they believe in, feel that they are in a position in which their performance on the public sector equality duty is not what it should be, because the law is not clear. Do you think that everyone is interpreting it in their own way? Should the Scottish Government be doing more to provide clarity through guidance or policy on the issue?

I agree that it is not just about being a woman of colour and the only minority in the group. I have voiced that because women of colour have come to me, but other women and girls have come to me, too. It is not just about faith and religion; it is about decency.

I want to probe this a little more, because I know that you work on the Scottish ethnic minority older people forum. I also know that sometimes you may not be able to speak directly on behalf of Age Scotland because—and I am going to be honest when I say this—there is fear about talking about these issues in a lot of organisations. Could you give your personal view?

I know the sort of people—I am going to respectfully call them aunties and uncles—who come to forum meetings and do really good work. You mentioned that earlier, and I have also heard about them bringing community groups together so that they can respond to many of the issues that we have spoken about today.

I certainly know that there are no unisex toilets in a gurdwara, a mosque or a mandir. There are toilets for males and females, and there is sometimes another toilet that can be used by non-binary or disabled people—or whatever the need is at the time. Do you feel, in the religions that we and other faiths practise—again, religion is a protected characteristic—that it is quite clear how we achieve a balance in that regard with other characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, in terms of single-sex services and biological males and females?

Good morning. This is a question for Jatin Haria. The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights has said that its research strongly suggests that the guidance that is produced by the EHRC

“is not being widely used either for development or quality assurance purposes within listed bodies”,

going on to say that the EHRC’s

“enforcement activities do not appear to be effective.”

The EHRC, for its part, has said that it has yet to have

“sight of draft regulations from the Scottish Government on ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting”.

Is it not clear that the Scottish Government is not doing enough?

Jatin, my question is about balance. Those characteristics are all protected under the Equality Act 2010. Sex is protected—female and male—and there are eight other protected characteristics. How would you translate that to get balance? Outside here, those things are happening to women live, every single day. It is so important for the women who are listening, who want an answer about what will happen. Should they not work for the NHS? You mentioned earlier that, in relation to teachers, if people do not see someone of colour, they are not going to be comfortable, or they might not think that the profession is for them. There are so many inequalities, but this inequality is right here in our faces. Will those people not be employed by the NHS? Will they think that the profession is not for them?

Can you answer the question on balance?