Labour flounders to define the word ‘woman’

Happy International Women’s Day! To mark this auspicious occasion, the Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour today hosted a conversation between presenter Emma Barnett, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd and the Labour shadow minister for women and equalities, Anneliese Dodds. 

Unfortunately, amid all the amicable chatter about why Dodds’ post does not have a full-time dedicated Cabinet minister, Barnett decided to raise a difficult question for any right-on Labour MP. Referencing the query of one listener called Jill, Barnett asked the Labour chair if a future government led by Keir Starmer would legislate to define what a woman actually is.

Dodds squirmed for several minutes to answer the question, tying herself in knots as she declined to give Barnett the ‘pithy’ answer she desired as to what constitutes a ‘woman’ and how she would reconcile Labour’s support for updating the Gender Recognition Act with single-sex exemptions. 

So unimpressed with the response was Harry Potter author JK Rowling that the longtime Labour supporter took to Twitter to declare: ‘Someone please send the shadow minister for equalities a dictionary and a backbone.’