Women’s Outdoor Single-Sex Pool
Paradise lost: the decline and fall of Hampstead’s ladies’ pond
SIAM GOORWICH 24 August 2022 – The Spectator
‘We’re surrounded by sociopaths,’ I whispered to my friend as I scanned the scene before me. We were sitting on a bench overlooking the meadow at Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath, and for the first time in my 20-odd years of visiting, I felt a sense of detachment: like I was an observer rather than a participant.
A lot’s changed since the pandemic, but nowhere have I felt it more keenly than when I go for a swim at my beloved pond. This last, precious corner of paradise in our smog-filled city has been desecrated, and I am heartbroken.
The ladies’ pond opened in 1925, and nearly 100 years on it’s still the sole women-only outdoor swimming amenity in the country. For most of that time it was a fun, free and flexible delight. But two years ago the City of London Corporation, which manages the pond, imposed a new booking and payment system.
Bathing in any of the Heath’s three ponds was free until 2005 when (following an unsuccessful attempt to close the mixed pond to cut costs) CoLC introduced a fee with a ‘self-policed’ system of payment – leaving it up to individual swimmers to decide whether or not to pay. But in May 2020, a compulsory charge was brought in. Since then, it’s been increased twice: a single swim currently costs £4.25, or £2.55 for concessions. And there have been other post-pandemic changes, too – namely the introduction of a booking system that has removed the option of spontaneous swims during most of the day…
PROTESTS
POLICY CHANGE
Trans swimmers allowed to swim in Hampstead Heath’s women’s pond, sparking protest from Orthodox Jews
GABRIELLA SWERLING – 23 May 2019 – The Telegraph
Transgender swimmers will be granted full access to Hampstead Heath’s ladies’ pond following a local authority ruling which has sparked protest from feminists and Orthodox Jewish women.
People who identify as transgender now have the right to bathe in the womens-only pond in London which is used by celebrities including the model, Kate Moss and actresses Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter.
Swimmers who identify as transgender were previously allowed to swim in the ladies’ pond, but yesterday their rights to access became enshrined in local government rules.
The City of London Corporation (CLC) yesterday [THURS] announced new “robust and consistent” gender identity rules following a public consultation.
The CLC, which manages Hampstead Heath, said that an “overwhelming majority” of the 21,000 responses to the major consultation were in favour of ensuring that trans people did not suffer discrimination.
Almost two-thirds of the respondents also said that people should not have to provide “proof” of their gender identity before being allowed entry to services which are single-gender, such as the swimming ponds.
Opponents of the decision, however, have claimed that close to 50 percent of the responses were deemed invalid, apparently because “they did not address any of the questions on gender identity”.
It is anticipated that the move is likely to resurrect the ongoing row surrounding whether transgender women should be allowed access to the ladies-only pond, which has existed on the Heath since 1926.
Last year female activists demonstrated against trans women being allowed to use the pond by going swimming in the nearby men-only pond.
Following the announcement yesterday Rosa Freedman, a professor of law at Reading University who says she is against self-identification, suggested transgender swimmers should use the nearby mixed pond instead. She added that strictly Orthodox Jewish women will feel uncomfortable with the new law, which will mean they cannot swim there.
“I am heartbroken that self-identification will be allowed,” she told the Evening Standard. “There’s a mixed pond next to it, why can’t they use that. It’s a place where women feel safe, and now it won’t be the same. This now means there is a possibility, and it is a very small number of men, that could use this in a predatory way.”
Mrs Freedman, who is married to a rabbi, said on Twitter she had “explained [the concept of] trans to an ultra orthodox chassidic Jewish Rabbi whose wife and her friends will no longer be able to swim at Hampstead Ladies Pond… perhaps the most difficult conversation I have had on the issue to date.”…
City adopts new gender identity policy
2 May 2019 – City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation has adopted a new gender identity policy following a widespread public survey.
Members of the organisation’s Policy & Resources Committee today backed the plans to ensure the services the City Corporation provides are fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010, and do not discriminate against trans people.
The move will ensure a robust and consistent approach to gender identity across the organisation and minimise potential issues of exclusion and discrimination.
The announcement follows the results of an online survey into gender identity, undertaken by the City Corporation, which received over 21,000 responses. The majority of respondents agreed that trans people should be able to access services relating to their gender identity, in line with the Equality Act 2010.
The survey was carried out as part of the City Corporation’s ongoing work to make sure its services, both within and outside the Square Mile, are inclusive…
Let women swim!
Single sex swimming is essential for many
HELEN SAXBY – 25 August 2022 – The Critic
ecently, I saw an old friend after several years. While catching up on all our news, she told me a story which involved an experience she had had at her local swimming pool in Leicester. Sylvia (not her real name) had been swimming regularly at her local pool since she was in her thirties. In her fifties, after breast cancer left her with a mastectomy, she was less keen to be in a public swimming environment. As she explained to me, although mastectomies are remarkably common, they are not actually seen very often, and so they provoke more interest than is comfortable, especially from children. The general public swim became impossible for her, but an answer lay in the weekly hour-long women-only swimming session, which she began to attend regularly.
Most of the group consisted of Muslim women who relied on a female-only space to be able to swim at all, and the group was comfortable, friendly and felt safe. It is not always visibly obvious why individual women need or value a woman-only space in which to swim or undress, but in single-sex groups there can be a sensitivity to others, and a mutual respect, which is not always found in public mixed-sex groups. It was important to Sylvia to feel safe in the pool, but also in the changing rooms, where the atmosphere was now comfortable enough for her to have a proper shower after her swim without having to contort herself or try and hide anything.
Then one day a man appeared on the poolside. He was clearly a man. He wore swimming trunks and there was no attempt to disguise his sex. The pool was divided into two designated swimming lanes and one large free-swimming area, and the man entered one of the swimming lanes and swam up and down for half an hour. All the women stayed in the pool for some time after he had left, not wishing to bump into him in the changing room. There was some anxiety and confusion expressed by the women whilst talking after their swim and they decided to report the matter to the front desk. Two of the Muslim women went to the desk but eventually came back with little reassurance to offer. The overall impression was that nothing could be done, that this situation was somehow “alright” and could not be challenged. The women were left with the impression that the law allowed men into their spaces and that it was not polite to even question whether this particular man actually “claimed” to be a woman.
The staff in this situation clearly had no knowledge of the law. Nor did they have a written policy from management or the council from which to quote, and it was way above their pay grade to risk a confrontation with a strange male, so there was nothing they could do except allow a man into a woman-only swimming session.
Sylvia stopped going for her weekly swim
Sylvia stopped going for her weekly swim as she could no longer feel reassured of a safe and private space. She didn’t know if the Muslim women continued to attend or not, but clearly they would have been compromised by the presence of a man. For all she knows, the man could now have the pool to himself once a week, and there is no simple way of measuring how many women are self-excluding.
This all happened in the autumn of 2019, so within six months all the public pools were closed anyway due to the Covid lockdown. In the meantime there has been more and more publicity given to the feminist fight-back against the loss of women’s single-sex spaces, including a recent update to the Equality Act from the EHRC and a speech from Attorney General Suella Braverman for the Policy Exchange in her section on the Equality Act and single-sex spaces. It is to be hoped that public bodies and councils will be up to date on these developments and that things might have changed at this Leicester pool since 2019…
CONSULTATION
Edward Lord Responds on Single Sex Spaces – and that survey
MAYA FORSTATER – 28 April 2020 – Single-Sex Spaces
Edward Lord, Deputy of the City of London wrote to Liz Truss saying that based on a City of London survey “the findings are clear” single sex spaces should be open to people of the opposite sex based on gender identity.
“Shortly after taking up my current role in the City of London, the Corporation launched its own consultation in respect of transgender inclusion to inform our policy on gender identity in our service delivery and employment practices. This was in response to concerns expressed by some anti-trans campaigners who challenged the Corporation’s interpretation of the Equality Act to permit trans women to use the Highgate Women’s Pond on Hampstead Heath.
As part of the policy formulation exercise, we put out an open access online opinion survey asking a range of questions about attitudes towards trans people and their access to public services. The findings were very clear. Of the 21,191 respondents who completed our survey (of whom 53% were women):
68% agreed that ‘a person who consistently identifies with a gender (being different from the gender assigned to them at birth) should be able to access services commonly provided to that gender’; and
Women were in a majority of all of those positive responses.Edward Lord, Letter to Liz Truss
The findings are clear?
You may remember that survey. Here is the report from it.
The survey process was overseen by Edward Lord, Chairman of the Establishment Committee of the City of London Corporation who has strong views on this topic. As Lord says in their letter to Liz Truss they view they view people who raised concerns at the loss of single sex spaces as “anti-trans campaigners”. Those who agreed with Lord’s view they call “positive responses”.
The headline finding is that 68% of respondents agree that a person who “consistently identifies with a gender which is different from the one they were assigned at birth should be able to access services commonly provided to the gender with which they now identify”
Around a quarter disagree. One of the members of the “Establishment Committee” commented that those who disagree need to have their attitudes changed, and asked for details of the answers from city workers.
A Member commented that he would encourage officers to question the responses which were least in agreement with the questions posed in the survey, particularly if those were City of London workers. The Member added that in order to change attitudes, it is necessary to understand why people hold certain views, and asked officers to look at getting those answers.Establishment Committee Meeting Minutes, December 2018
Lord blocks anyone who so much as follows accounts that disagree with their view that single sex spaces are exclusionary.
As last count at least 1,821 people that had been blocked by Edward Lord, of which 83% were women, only 5% had ever interacted with the elected politician.
An oddly discrete survey
The survey was mainly promoted by being tweeted from Edward Lord’s twitter account. As University College London social sciences professor Alice Sullivan, pointed out at the time, the consultation was been handled in an “oddly discreet way”.
“Apparently it was first tweeted in early July but I did not find out about it until early August,” she added. “They only informed the Parliament Hill running track users group about the consultation after I prompted them to do so, yet it affects the track changing rooms. As a survey researcher, I know a good survey asks specific questions in clear English. This consultation does not do that. It asks vague questions which many people won’t understand.”Alice Sullivan, UCL Professor
Confusing language
The survey does not explain which services the city of London manages and therefore what kinds of services and situations the questions cover in practice.
The survey conflated sex and gender and uses confusing language such as “gender assigned at birth”. Most ordinary people would have no idea what this relates to: is it intersex people? People who have had ‘sex change operations’? Few would have an inkling that it could just mean people who have changed their pronouns.
This was raised before the survey closed by several respondents . Marcus Roberts of the City of London told them:
“Regarding the survey, we need to review our use of the terms “sex” and “gender” to ensure we are getting this right going forward. However with the survey now live, I am confident that it allows respondents to make the points that you make in your e-mail – including raising concerns about the language of the survey (using the free text boxes). We will then reflect on these responses as part of our review of how we should take policy forward.”Marcus Roberts Head of Strategy and Performance, Department of Community and Children’s Service, City of London
Nothing was ever heard again about clarifying this.
So who answered the survey?
Since the survey mainly went out though Edward Lord’ networks the survey responses are severely skewed. Young people were overrepresented with 12 responses from 18 to 35 year olds for every one from over 45 year olds. Nearly a quarter of the respondents said they are bisexual (23%), a very high proportion compared to the general population. Replies from people not living anywhere near the City of London swamped those that came from residents of the City of London’s housing estates or users of services such as the atheletics changing rooms and ponds on Hampstead Heath .
While the survey was self selecting rather than a representative survey, it would at least be possible to break down the results by different demographic groups – in practice the independent consultants only report the headline that twice as many respondents agree with the proposal “that where facilities are restricted by gender, those restriction should relate to the gender with which the service user consistently identifies now”. Given the clear a lack of representativeness the survey respondents there is no validity to this finding.
The Equality Act?
The survey was analysed by a firm called “Smart Consult” who operate out of a mailbox in East London. They said “Comments that are abusive, discriminatory and/or contrary to the Equality Act 2010 have not been used in this report.”
How did they know which comments were “contrary to the Equality Act?” It seems they asked the City Corporation.
Some felt that the consultation was inconsistent with the Equality Act 2010 in the way it used the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’” a claim that was considered and rejected by the City Corporation. Smart Consult survey report
Who was that then?
That would be Edward Lord, as October 2018 minutes of the committee meeting showed:…
Heath bosses launch “gender identity” consultation
HELEN CHAPMAN – 17 August 2018 – Camden Journal
HEATH bosses have launched a consultation on “gender identity” to help decide who should be able to use single-sex facilities.
The City of London want to know whether trans-women – men who have transitioned, or are transitioning to become women – should be able to use the Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath.
The consultation also asks whether those who identify as being one sex or the other should be able to use the facilities they feel most comfortable in.
The results could lead to changes at the ponds and also in changing rooms at the Parliament Hill lido and running track.
University College London social sciences professor Alice Sullivan, who runs at the track at Parliament Hill, said the consultation had been handled in an “oddly dis- creet way”.
“Apparently it was first tweeted in early July but I did not find out about it until early August,” she added. “They only informed the Parliament Hill running track users group about the consulta- tion after I prompted them to do so, yet it affects the track changing rooms.
“As a survey researcher, I know a good survey asks specific questions in clear Eng- lish. This consultation does not do that. It asks vague questions which many people won’t understand.
“The topic is controver- sial, and it is important that people are properly consulted. It is really important that we take into account a wide range of views and make sure those views are heard.
“The whole framing of the consultation is that gender is purely about identity. As a sociologist, I think that biological dif- ferences and social struc- tures are important, and the survey should not assume that they don’t exist or matter.”
Nicky Mayhew, co- chair of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association, said: “We have sent a link to the consultation in an email to all of our mem- bers. The City of London have also posted a notice at the pond and have invit- ed people to respond.”
Edward Lord OBE, an officer at the City of Lon- don Corporation, announced last month on the City of London web- site and Twitter that a con- sultation had been launched about Hamp- stead Heath and “gender identity policies”…
EDWARD LORD
Who is Edward Lord?
20 June 2022 – Sex Matters
Edward Lord has been an elected member of the City of London Corporation since 2001, chairing various committees, and acting leading member at the Local Government Association from 2004 to 2017, as well as holding other public and private non-executive roles. Lord, who identifies as bi and trans non-binary, was LGA’s national lead on equality from 2004 to 2013; a board member of the Pride Trust; deputy/acting chair of Pride in London’s community advisory board; and an “LGBT role model” for Stonewall, and is currently a Trustee of the LGBT Foundation. Lord has also sat as a Justice of the Peace since 2002, both in the magistrates’ courts in the Cities of London and Westminster and in the appellate jurisdiction at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) and Southwark Crown Court. Since July 2021, Lord has served as a lay member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Hands off the Hampstead ladies’ pond
Women will no longer put up with the trans assault on single-sex spaces.
JO BARTOSCH – 30 August 2022 – Spiked
… One of the key figures behind the policy change is Edward Lord. Lord has been an elected member of the City of London Corporation since 2001, chairing various committees. In 2018, Lord oversaw a consultation by the City of London Corporation about its trans policy, including in relation to women’s and men’s ponds and changing rooms on Hampstead Heath. Launching the consultation, he said: ‘It shouldn’t be controversial. It shouldn’t be a debate. Trans women are women, trans men are men.’
But recent remarks from attorney general Suella Braverman suggest the law is not as the City of London Corporation sees it. In a speech earlier this month, she made clear that ‘we do not operate a system of self-identification in England and Wales. But some service providers behave as if they have a legal duty to admit biological males who identify as females into women-only spaces… this is not in accordance with the law.’
Nonetheless, the gender ideologues are still resolutely pulling their swimming caps over their ears. For instance, rather than supporting her sisters, the boss of the university lecturers’ union, Jo Grady, criticised the women picketing the pond, branding them a ‘nuisance’ and accusing them of ‘harassment’. Similarly, Green Party councillor for Camden and London Assembly member Siân Berry raged on Twitter that the protesters were ‘transphobic’. She said she wanted to ‘record that [the protest] was not welcome and doesn’t reflect the loving and inclusive values of the people in Camden at all’…
KENWOOD LADIES POND ASSOCIATION
MAN FRIDAY
Yes, but today is Monday! Swimming in the Men’s Pond on Hampstead Heath
I was delighted to be a part of the latest Man Friday initiative, a Bank Holiday Monday dip in the Men’s Pond on Parliament Hill.
LILY MAYNARD – 30 May 2018 – lilymaynard.com
When is a woman not a woman? Why, when it’s Friday, of course!
I surveyed my reflection in the Primark changing room mirror.
“They aren’t very flattering,” observed my mother, who follows my political antics with a vague mix of admiration, resignation and disapproval. She was looking at my bum, clad in a pair of neon orange swimming shorts from the men’s department.
“The black ones might suit your shape better,” she added, tactfully.
She was undoubtedly right, but this wasn’t about looking cool on the beach. This was about the forthcoming bank holiday Monday when I was joining the Man Friday crew for a swim in the men’s pond on Hampstead Heath. I was going to be a man for the day!
We bought the black ones (my mum paid, bless her!) and headed off to Starbucks for a coffee.
*****
“I’m going swimming in the Men’s Pond at Hampstead today, with the Man Friday lot,” I announced at breakfast the next morning, boring black shorts packed in my bag. “We’re identifying as men for the day.”
“But it’s Monday,” observed Jessie, without looking up from her phone.
“Oh god, you’re not going topless?” gasped middle child, aghast. “Mum! Please no.”
“I’m not going topless,” I assured her, although to be honest I hadn’t made my mind up about that yet.
“Lily is a man, Lily is a man,” chanted smallest as she fixed a hideous, pink, sparkly Jojo bow into her unbrushed hair with jam-covered fingers. “Look! I’m a gendered child!” she smirked.
Nigel emerged from the bedroom sleepily.
“Good morning, Sir,” he greeted me.
I hugged him, grabbed my coffee and ran for the train, leaving him to deal with jamgate.
We’d arranged a rendez-vous in a pub in Kentish Town, where we’d be having lunch and meeting with some journalists and a film crew wanting to interview ‘Sweary Godmother’ and Amy Desir about Man Friday’s latest ventures.
Hampstead Heath has a network of swimming ponds, including a Ladies’ Pond and a Men’s Pond, both open all year round. Until recently, men were not allowed to swim in the women’s pond. Over the last year all lifeguards and managers, and the swimming associations that use the ponds, have undergone ‘transgender awareness training’. The result? Towards the end of 2017, the City of London Corporation came to the stunningly unprogressive conclusion that men who ‘identify as’ women should be allowed to use both the Ladies’ pond and the female changing rooms.
Whether you are a man or a woman, according to this way of thinking, is based solely on an inner feeling of ‘gender identity’. If you don’t have a gender identity, don’t worry. Lots of us don’t, which is hardly surprising- if you take away biological differences between men and women you’re left with nothing more than a gauntlet of stereotypes to negotiate. It isn’t possible to see someone’s gender identity – a portly gentleman with a moustache may identify as a woman, and, although it seems strangely less frequent in those over the age of 25, a woman can identify as a moustachioed, portly gentleman. Age and race, somewhat inconsistently, remain unaffected by identity. I mean, come on, that would be absurd!
Fellow females, if you’ve never been to the Ladies’ pond on Hampstead Heath, it’s well worth a visit. It has a leafy meadow feel; an all-female space has a different vibe to it that it’s hard to understand unless you’ve visited one: women hold themselves differently, the atmosphere is more relaxed.
On a sunny day, women of all ages sit around on the grass, reading, chatting, napping, wearing as much or as little as they choose and free of the concern that an inch of naked flesh will provoke some lascivious neanderthal into making unwanted advances. In this male-free space, conversations are started easily, respect for personal space is observed and women seem happy to trust strangers to ‘keep an eye on my stuff for a minute’ while they pop in for a swim.
It all feels a bit different when you know that the magic words ‘I identify as a woman’ can let male-bodied people into the space. Of course, this also means that women who ‘identify as’ men can use the men’s pond.
Sweary had written for confirmation of this, and received the following email from the City of London:
So that was that settled: “trans women and trans men are welcome to swim at the relevant single gender ponds.”
Eight of us met for lunch beforehand, a pricey but delicious affair at a hipster pub near the station. I’d give them a recommendation- the quinoa burger was delicious and the coffee dark and strong, but the place would probably be targeted by activists for unknowingly serving TERFs, and an official apology demanded. (No, I’m not joking.)…