What is a woman?
This seemingly simple question has echoed through political circles for months and years, but is often branded a “culture war” issue not important enough to win over voters.
In fact, the 2022 federal election decision by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison to select women’s rights advocate, Katherine Deves, to run for the affluent seat of Warringah was widely panned.
The Question That Doesn’t Go Away
In October, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr. Anna Cody faced questioning from Liberal Senator Claire Chandler, following remarks at a National Press Club talk in September where she said: “We are not one version of a woman.”Cody also said she did not “understand the term ‘biological man.’”
The same question was trotted out in the 2022 federal election debate to Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison with the now-prime minister responding, “An adult female,” and Morrison saying, “A member of the female sex.”
In the same year, Liberal Senator Alex Antic asked senior bureaucrats for their definition only for the question to be taken on notice and a response submitted later.
Former Health Secretary Brendan Murphy remarked at the time that there “are a variety of definitions.”
Women’s Rights Being Eroded?
Lawyer and women’s rights advocate, Deves, says its an issue of women’s rights being eroded at the expense of transgender legal rights.“Defining ‘woman’ in law is not a semantic debate—it is the bedrock of justice,” she told The Epoch Times.
“Without it, sex-based rights collapse: single-sex sports vanish, women’s shelters become mixed, and prisons expose females to male violence.
“Biology is the only objective line that protects half the population from erasure. Anything less is ideological capture masquerading as progress.”
In 2013, the Gillard Labor government amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.
While the Act had previously included protections based on sex, marital status, pregnancy and family responsibilities, the amendments added in sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status for the first time.
Equality Australia Says Women’s Rights Not at Risk
Equality Australia, a national organisation dedicated to LGBT rights, says transgenders often bear the brunt of “targeted attacks” and rejects the premise that women stand to lose their rights.“This campaign spreads a false narrative that the existence and inclusion of trans women threatens the safety and wellbeing of others.
“Our community is supported and strengthened by being more inclusive, not by excluding the marginalised and vulnerable.”
The group has also condemned lesbian groups which seek to exclude trans women.
“We emphatically stand with trans women today and always,” the statement reads.
Not an Immediate Issue for Most, but the Tip of the Iceberg: Think Tank
Graham Young, from the Australian Institute of Progress, says the deeper issue is when well-known facts—in this case, physical biology—can be altered, it is the tip of the iceberg that can lead to bigger problems for society’s institutions.“When ideology overrides fact—especially where physical differences matter or children are involved—the consequences affect everyone, not just those in the debate,” he told The Epoch Times.
“It’s relevant because if you have a government and institutions that pretend basic facts are wrong then all sorts of bad things happen.”
Young said most Australians have no objection to what trans people do, it’s only when it starts to encroach on women’s rights that it becomes an issue—and a risk.
“Because of the physical unequalness between most men and women in areas like strength and aggression those problems arise much more frequently with transgender women than transgender men,” he said.
“The reason for playing sport by sex is to take account of these differences so that the best women will win regularly. In sports with body contact, like boxing, football, netball etc. there is also an elevated risk of injury from a mismatch.
What About the Physical Cost?
Young said one of the greatest impacts on everyday people was on trans people themselves, who may undergo physical transformations involving mastectomies or castration.“[It] seems to most of us to be little different from the painfully thin person who decides they are not thin enough and effectively starves themselves.
“In the last case, we call it anorexia and treat it as a mental illness, in the first case many argue it is to be affirmed.”
Young also said medical resources and guidelines compelled doctors to support patients in undergoing procedures.
“This is the case even when the person is a child and too young to even make a decision to have pierced ears or a tattoo, let alone life-altering medication or surgery.
“For me this is the worst consequence as the pressure is coming from activists, and children are catching a moral panic from them, and then they are facilitating the children acting on this panic.
“We’ve just come through a period where many institutions have been found guilty of allowing child sexual abuse, and here we are, in broad daylight, facilitating another kind of child physical abuse.”
