Radicailín along with many women in Ireland have achieved an early first success with the news that the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has agreed that it was a mistake for the HSE to replace the word “women” with “anyone with a cervix” as reported in The Sunday Times newspaper yesterday (October 4th).
Radicailín kickstarted our protest campaign #WomanIsNotADirtyWord just six weeks ago. We highlighted the HSE’s removal of the word “women” from correspondence and webpages regarding its CervicalCheck screening programme.
We asked women to use our template letter to contact the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and CervicalCheck to express their disappointment at the HSE’s failure to include the name “women” in screening guidance for cervical cancer. We also ran a petition which has already been signed by almost 1,500 people.
Screening for cervical cancer has always targeted women as only women can suffer from cervical cancer. Screening is an important service designed to save women’s lives and health through diagnosing abnormal cells in a timely manner.
It makes no medical sense for CervicalCheck to suggest there was a need for gender-neutral language to be used as only one sex is affected, that is, of women.
It makes no sense to use anything other than clear accurate language in screening guidance if trying to reach as many women as possible.
To do anything else is to risk having women who need screening failing to avail of it especially women whose first language isn’t English and women who might not be familiar with the names of certain body parts, such as the cervix.
It is also extremely disrespectful of women generally to refer to us as “anyone with a cervix”.
Our campaign spurred on others to take action into their own hands such as Sarah Anderson, who had an interview with Joe Duffy on RTE’s LiveLine. Sarah also got in touch with the NWCI to inform them of the removal of “women” along with others who have emailed and protested against this dehumanising and potentially risky decision by the HSE.
We understand that the NWCI plans to meet the HSE and that it favours the use of “women, girls and anyone with a cervix”. However for a service designed for women aged between 25 and 65, we believe the word “girls” is not appropriate. We would prefer the terminology “Women (born female)” as being clearer and more accurate in attempting to reach as many as possible of those who are at risk of cervical cancer.
We also fail to understand why there is any need for consultation with the Transgender Equality Network Ireland which is already a member of the NWCI.
Gender ideology has no place in a medical screening programme and indeed has already been seen to have been an influence in this attempt to be “inclusive”.
We welcome the comments of Ms Jennifer McCarthy Flynn of the NWCI which wants to “discuss how the decision was made and who made it.” We agree with Ms McCarthy Flynn when she says “For example, why weren’t members of the Women’s Health Taskforce consulted? Language is really important in this space and it is essential the HSE uses clear, strong, inclusive wording.”
Radicailín says: “We need to have clear language and be able to talk about healthcare affecting women without gender identity politics interfering. Our health and lives are too important to be at the mercy of gender identity ideology when it comes to serious sex based illnesses. ‘Women’ must be used for women’s health issues.”
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Thank you for all your efforts on this.
Thank you so much. We appreciate it.