April 21, 2023 - 7:15pm

Protecting women’s rights from policies rooted in gender ideology has become a bipartisan issue. This week, Conservative MP Miriam Cates and Labour MP Rosie Duffield issued a public commitment to work across political party lines, vowing to fight back against the onslaught of policies which prioritise trans inclusion to the detriment of women’s rights.

On the Left, Duffield has been vocal in defending the biological basis of sex and the right to single-sex services and spaces, a stance that has cost her dearly. The Canterbury MP, a survivor of male violence, compared the toxicity of a Labour Party to an abusive relationship in an article for UnHerd earlier this year. On the Right, Miriam Cates has faced no such opposition. Rather, when faced with hostility from Labour MPs, her party stood by her.  

Bipartisanship in defence of women’s rights goes beyond the parliamentary benches. Standing for Women’s “Let Women Speak” rallies provide a platform for members of the public and politicians alike to share their objections to gender identity ideology and devise strategies on how to push back.

During Let Women Speak events in Australia and New Zealand last month, trans rights activists physically assaulted organiser Kellie-Jay Keen, forcing her to cut short the tour. Until then, the tour had succeeded in bringing together grassroots organisers such as Mana Wāhine Kōrero with Right-of-centre politicians like Moira Deeming MP. Women who fiercely advocate for abortion rights and those who oppose it found common ground over their opposition to gender identity dogma.

Elsewhere, a grassroots cross-party coalition of mainly Spanish-speaking feminists launched the “Feminist Women International” group to counter the Spanish government’s controversial “trans bill”, which allows anyone over the age of 16 to change their legally registered gender. The project aims to push back against such policies, which are also being imposed without public scrutiny in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The Latin American and Caribbean region certainly needs all the help it can get. Back in 2008, Ecuador became the first country to introduce the concept of “gender identity” in its constitution, followed by Bolivia in 2009. Argentina voted in favour of sex self-identification in 2012, as did Brazil in 2013.

None of these countries had informed, democratic debates about the material implications of these policies, including the effects on children’s and women’s rights. At the time, they were experiencing “the pink tide” of progressive governments which managed to push through sweeping legislations while relying on charismatic figureheads.

But some politicians are cottoning on. In Mexico, for example, conservative congresswoman America Rangel introduced a law proposal to prevent children who reject their sex from undergoing irreversible surgeries. Meanwhile, Mexican feminist author Laura Lecuona was allowed to present her book ‘When Trans is not Transgressive’ in the Mexican Congress. Both Lecuona and Rangel have publicly defended one another for standing up for women’s rights.

Politicians, grassroots campaigners and the public are now better informed about gender identity and what it means for women’s rights. In recent months, they have shown a willingness to reach across the aisle and ally with those to whom they are otherwise ideologically opposed. Against the juggernaut of gender identity politics, nothing else will do.


Raquel Rosario Sánchez is a writer, researcher and campaigner from the Dominican Republic.