I live in Scotland but would rather it said I live in the UK. Scotland is a very small place! In my trade union, more and more men are identifying as women and taking traditional women's roles, including on the regional and national Women's Committees. Their excuse is that women don't seem to be interested in sitting on Committees. For a number of years, women have been asking for Women's Committees to take place in the evening or at weekends when it is easier to get someone to look after children or the people we care for. The Union doesn't listen and expects all women trade unionists to be in jobs where the employer will give us time off for union meetings. This is not the case, and we are not being listened to. Biological men who present as women are not, in the main, single parents nor are they unpaid carers. They are in more traditional jobs where employers recognise the Union and so are given paid leave to attend meetings. Women are being done over by the union and by these men. These biological men presenting as women do not know what it is like to be a woman who suffers heavy periods at work and so needs more toilet breaks; or is pregnant and needs to sit down on the job due to the pressure of the foetus on her spine, or is going through the menopause and needs to go change their uniform because of hot flushes. They know nothing of being the main carer of the family's children or older adults or members who are disabled. Neither do they know of the discrimination in terms of pay or simply being a woman in the workplace. And yet the union is listening to them whinge about the "rough" uniforms they have to wear, or the fact they are not allowed to wear make-up at work like these are so important. I have been a trade unionist all my working life - 43 years - and wouldn't work unless I can be in a union, but I am struggling to find a trade union that still represents biological women and their rights rather than biological men who present as women. I suspect the same is true in other countries where there are trade unions. There is no reason why the unions cannot have transsexual committees dealing with specific issues that these people face at work.
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