I was in Edinburgh yesterday, for this:

The issue is one of a proposed self-ID law in Scotland allowing men to enter women’s spaces such as changing rooms, toilets, hospital wards and prisons on the basis of self-identification, that is: nothing more than saying they’re women. Under self-ID, men won’t need to have ‘sex reassignment surgery’, be in possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate, be taking cross-sex hormones or even to dress in traditionally female clothes to freely enter spaces where women and girls are undressing or are otherwise vulnerable.

This is a matter of women’s safety and dignity; the vastly, overwhelming majority of violent and sexual assaults against women and girls are committed by men and female-only spaces should be a refuge rather than an additional danger.

It’s also a matter of political necessity; if women cannot be recognised as a distinct class, how can policies affecting women be properly formulated? How can they be implemented if nobody knows where funding is most needed or best applied?

#WomenWontWheesht is a call for women’s voices to be heard in political decision-making and policy creation/enactment. It’s a call for their spaces, safety, dignity and political identity to be preserved in the face of a now relentless assault.

I haven’t written much about this issue here because this is supposed to be a blog about wheelchairs and training for half marathons in them. But it’s too important an issue not to write about it more. Besides, the issues have coincided twice now because I’ve had wheelchair news relating to two #WomenWontWheesht events: the first in Glasgow in July, which was simultaneously my first wheelchair-bound train journey and a protest in support of Marion Millar. The second was my first train and urban journey in my new wheelchair coinciding with attendance at this event.

The protest went really well. I’ll write more about it in another post and link to pictures and videos, when I’ve collected them.

The wheelchair news is also good and I’ll write about that in another post, too, because this one is already too long. Short version: almost all good news, but I really need to get a better bag.