The debate over whether transgender women should be allowed access to women-only-spaces, such as the gym, is an extremely hot topic at the moment.
The Office for National Statistics census of 2021, stated that roughly 262,000 people in England and Wales identified with a gender that was not the same as the one registered at their birth.
With this figure being such a small minority of our society, it begs the question as to why it has suddenly became such a controversial topic.
And with influencers like Natalee Barnett, who goes by Nataleebfitness online, announcing that her womens only gym would only be acessible to biological women, it’s starting to become difficult to define where inclusivity truly ends.
This debate is ever changing and evolving, especially in regards to whether these spaces should be acessible to everyone who identifies as a woman, or whether or not they need to remain exclusive, for privacy and safety?
People such as Maddie, who is a transgender woman, argue that transgender women are women and should have the right to access spaces that match their gender identity. She said:
“Exclusion of tansgender women in these spaces is discrimination. If you look at the statistics, transgender women are such a small minority in society we don’t take up enough space in society to cause a threat”
Although the transgender community are a minority, it is also vital that they have the same opportunities and spaces available to them- regardless of gender identity.
Women-only-gyms, however, are struggling to accommodate to this unknown.
With other marginalised groups, such as Muslim women, finding solace in the safety and security of the women-only-spaces, it’s increasingly starting to become a grey area.
One women’s-only-gym located on Ashbourne Road In Derby has noticed this trend, and has begun to explore how to make her gym as inclusive as possible. They said:
“As a women’s only gym, we would love to accommodate women from all walks of life but from a business perspective I’m struggling to accommodate for all my clientele”
“40% of my members are Muslim women who use the gym as a safe space to take off their Hijabs and if transgender women were present they wouldn’t be able to do this which leaves me in an impossible position”
With both groups of these women typically under-represented, it raises the question as to why one group is more important than the other, and how can we as a society work to make things more equal and inclusive.
