Groups advocating for the restoration of women’s rights say a Bill seeking to define “man” and “woman” in law must also explicitly define biological sex.
Jan Rivers of Genspect, a gender-critical organisation that champions a healthy approach to sex and gender, said sex-based distinctions underpin parts of the Human Rights Act and should be consistently reflected across legislation. “The Bill really won’t make sense unless sex is defined,” she said.
Rivers said public sector guidance and health data protocols increasingly prioritised self-identified gender over sex, which she argued could reduce the availability of sex-specific medical information used in diagnosis and treatment.
Rivers added that some policies had been changed without sufficient public consultation and reflected a wider institutional shift influenced by gender theory.
Save Women’s Sport Australasia co-founder Ro Edge said the Bill was necessary to provide clear, biology-based definitions of sex in law, particularly in sport. Ambiguity in current legal and policy frameworks had contributed to disputes over transgender males participating in female sports categories.
Edge pointed to a 2006 Attorney-General’s legal opinion that was used to support interpreting “sex” in the Human Rights Act as including gender identity, though she noted it had not been tested in court. She also referenced legal proceedings involving Sport NZ’s transgender guidelines and a subsequent costs order following her organisation’s intervention.
Public submissions on the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill close tomorrow – 2 July, after which a Select Committee will consider the feedback received. A guide and template for preparing a brief submission are available here.
Watch RCR’s interviews with Jan Rivers and Ro Edge.
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Pure idiocy. The fact this is even an issue demonstrates what appalling clowns we have, for the most part, in office and the opposition in this country. Australia under One Nation is looking more rational and appealing by the day. No doubts lots of other people will make the move, if Hansen gets in over there.
What a load of turd.
Designed to get you outraged so you dont pay attention to the billions of your taxes: luxon, willis, watts, seymour, peters, and goldsmith are embezzling.
When they pass a bill giving you a right of any kind you are giving them the power to take that right away.
i urge everyone to write a submission and all you have to do is is to use AI to write it, give it the words in this article, tell it to write it how you want to come over, strictly men are men and women are women and absolutely nothing in between. Check what it writes and tell it to improve areas if needed. Easy, please do this because the NGO behind it will be doing the very same along with the dimwits.
Flag n Fix has a post with links to information, easy templates, and more in support of the bill. This makes it easy to share information and to generate a submission. See https://flagnfix.substack.com/p/legal-definitions-of-woman-and-man