The women who wouldn’t wheesht

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2024 on Saturday 19 October at Church House, Westminster.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

For more than a decade, gender ideology seemed to enjoy unstoppable momentum across the Western world, establishing itself in the corridors of power, the faculty of universities, the HR departments of institutions and the boardrooms of corporations. As a consequence, from swimming-pool changing rooms to prison cells, woman’s refuges to political meetings, the ability of women to exercise sex-based rights has been under attack.

However, many now recognise that a shift has taken place in the sex and gender wars, with slithers of space opening up for women to speak about their views on gender ideology without being silenced. High-profile cases relating to equality law, parliamentary rows, and scandals within the healthcare system from the Cass Review to the WPATH files have empowered many silent but supportive people to come forward and say, enough is enough.

What is clear is that the influence of gender ideology would have continued unchallenged without ordinary and extraordinary women speaking up. The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht is a Sunday Times bestseller that captures an important moment in contemporary history: how a grassroots women’s movement, harking back to the Suffragettes and second-wave feminism, took on the political establishment and changed the course of history.

Through a collection of essays and photographs, some of the women involved tell the story of their five-year campaign to protect women’s sex-based rights. Including JK Rowling, former MP Joanna Cherry KC and those – like Jenny Lindsay, Gillian Philip and Professor Kathleen Stock, who lost careers or opportunities – the book also features anonymous women who fought for their rights as survivors of sexual abuse in the face of hostility from politicians. In a moving introduction, the woman who coined the phrase ‘Women Won’t Wheesht’ explains how she was motivated to fight for the right of her profoundly disabled daughter to have female-only care.

Join some of the contributors to the book to discuss the causes and consequences of this political upheaval of women’s rights. How did it take years of women risking losing jobs, families and friends to challenge a previously fringe ideology? And while some battles have been won – from the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon to widespread coverage of the injustices in sport – are the sex and gender wars still raging?

SPEAKERS
Joanna Cherry KC
King’s Counsel at Scottish Bar; former SNP MP for Edinburgh South West; former chair, Joint Committee on Human Rights

Gillian Philip
writer and haulage worker

Susan Smith
co-director, For Women Scotland; director, Beira’s Place; contributor, The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht

CHAIR
Marion Calder
co-director, For Women Scotland