Rowling attacks Starmer over new women’s minister

Sir Keir Starmer sparked a row on Monday by appointing a women’s minister who said that there are many definitions of a woman.

JK Rowling, Martina Navratilova and other feminist campaigners attacked the Prime Minister’s decision to appoint Anneliese Dodds as the women and equalities minister.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour in 2022, Ms Dodds said there are “different definitions legally around what a woman actually is”. When asked again, she said: “I think it does depend what the context is.”

She has also pledged that Labour is “committed to modernising the Gender Recognition Act”, saying the current process was “intrusive, outdated and humiliating”.

It comes after months of criticism of Sir Keir’s stance on gender issues. He had previously said it was “wrong” for one of his MPs to say only a woman has a cervix, and last year said 99.9 per cent of women do not have a penis. He has since changed his stance and said biological men should not be allowed to use women’s lavatories.

After Ms Dodds’ appointment, Rowling described her previous comments as “nonsensical”. The Harry Potter author, who gave Labour £1 million in 2008, has accused it of having “abandoned” her and others campaigning for women’s rights.

Writing in the Times, she said she would struggle to vote for Sir Keir, saying she had a “poor opinion” of his character and accusing the party of a “dismissive and often offensive” approach to women’s concerns under his leadership.

Rowling has become known as a fierce advocate of the rights of biological women after criticising Scottish Government proposals to introduce self-identification for transgender people.

Ms Navratilova, the nine-times Wimbledon singles champion and another prominent gender-critical campaigner, responded to the announcement by tweeting: “Dodds is just awful...”

Susan Hall, the former Tory London mayoral candidate, said: “Women need someone to defend their spaces, not someone who cannot even properly define them.”

Sir Keir announced that Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, would also have the title minister for women and equalities because the title legally has to be held by someone of secretary of state rank.

Ms Dodds will take the lead on equalities issues even though she is only a minister of state. She will attend Cabinet.

She had said in opposition that she was going to be the first Secretary of State for Women and Equalities. Instead, she will combine her equalities role with that of aid minister, in what will be seen as a significant downgrading of the position from pre-election promises.

Tess White, a Tory member of the Scottish Parliament, said: “In March 2022, on International Women’s Day, Anneliese Dodds could not define what a woman is while being interviewed on Woman’s Hour. Shockingly, she said ‘woman’ can mean ‘all kinds of things’. She is now Minister for Women and Equalities. That should alarm us all.”

Ms Phillipson has also been criticised for her approach to women’s issues after she refused eight times to say whether a biological male should be able to use a women’s lavatory during an interview with LBC radio in the run-up to the election.

Joan Smith, the journalist and author, tweeted: “Biological reality, and Labour MPs who recognise it, snubbed by Keir Starmer. Dodds and Phillipson now in position to carry out manifesto commitments opposed by thousands, if not millions, of women. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

A spokesman for the What Is A Woman campaign said: “The Government will be judged on its actions. The Prime Minister promised voters to protect singles-sex spaces for biological women and ban the teaching of gender ideology in schools. He and Dodds must now uphold that promise in law.”

Maya Forstater, the chief executive of Sex Matters, a women’s rights charity, said: “The prominence of sex-based rights during the election campaign showed that most people think genuinely single-sex spaces are essential, and that the Government should move swiftly to fix the legal muddle that means service providers are frightened to provide them.

“However Sir Keir decides to organise the women and equalities brief, we look forward to working with the incoming administration to ensure that the law works to guarantee women’s safety, dignity and privacy and to protect everyone’s human rights.”