Rape crisis service cuts ties with charity amid row over single-sex services

25 October 2024, 15:05

By Gina Davidson

@ginadavidsonlbc

A rape crisis service in Glasgow has severed ties with the national umbrella Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) network, saying they are “at odds” over single-sex services.

Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis, which supports almost a third of all female survivors of male sexual violence in Scotland, said that following a review, including discussions with the national body, it had decided to split from RCS.

It said its priority was to provide a single-sex service with an "all-female workforce" which was “at odds” with RCS's stance.

Chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, Sandy Brindley, has come under fire recently for backing a trans woman to lead the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, despite the role being advertised as for women only.

Brindley has also had to apologise after the Edinburgh centre failed to provide single-sex spaces for more than a year.

However, she said that while all RCS network member centres should provide single-sex spaces, there was no reason why transgender people could not work in rape support centres.

Now the Glasgow rape centre has withdrawn from the RCS network.

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A spokesperson said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have done so to hold fast to our principles and to best serve the women and girls that need our support.

"We were created to provide support by and for women. We believe, and women have consistently told us, that single-sex services delivered by an all-female workforce are crucial to help them heal from sexual trauma. This approach remains our priority but is at odds with RCS’."

The service said it will continue to work with sister rape crisis centres, and there will no change to the services it offers to survivors.

Scotland’s MVAWG (male violence against women and girls) sector has been engulfed in the controversy around self-ID of gender and questions around whether transwoman (biological men) could or should work in rape support centres.

The row stems from, now abandoned, moves by the Scottish Government to change the Gender Recognition Act which would put self-ID of gender into law.

The Scottish Government has also made being trans-inclusive part of its decision-making when it comes to funding rape services.

This latest blow to RCS comes after the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre was criticised by an independent report for failing to provide single-sex spaces.

It also found that the centre’s chief executive – Mridul Wadhwa who has since stepped down from the role – had “failed to set professional standards of behaviour”.

The report also said there was "evidence that the actions of some ERCC staff had caused damage to some survivors", and that concerns had been raised that some women were "excluding themselves from approaching Rape Crisis Centres including ERCC" because of their approach to gender identity.

Wadhwa was also criticised by an employment tribunal which accused the chief executive of carrying out a “heresy hunt” on a member of staff, Roz Adams, who had questioned the centre’s stance on self-ID and its potential impact on women survivors of rape.

Adams was last week awarded damages of £35,000 for injury to feelings in a "stark recognition of the gravity of harassment" which she faced on account of her gender critical beliefs.

The lack of a single-sex service in Edinburgh also led to author JK Rowling establishing and funding Beira’s Place, a rape crisis service which is single-sex.

RCS chief executive Sandy Brindley has since apologised to survivors who had been let down by the Edinburgh service – but she has faced calls to quit.

RCS, which is the national charity that sets service standards for member centres, said it wished the Glasgow team well and that it provided a crucial service for survivors.

A spokesperson added: “Our member centres deliver services in a variety of ways, tailored to the needs of the communities they serve.

"What is fundamental across all Rape Crisis Services is that survivors’ needs are at the centre of their provision.”