Maya Forstater

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Maya Forstater
Born1973
London
Alma materNewcastle University
Known forMaya Forstater v Centre for Global Development legal case and campaigning for sex-based rights

Maya Forstater (born 1973) is a British business and international development researcher and feminist known for being at the centre of the Maya Forstater v Centre for Global Development legal case.[1][2][3][4]

Career[]

Forstater holds a degree from the University of Newcastle. In 2002, she co-authored a technical report for the United Nations on corporate social responsibility for small and medium enterprises.[5] She has published academic research on corporate responsibility and illicit financial flows.[6][7] Her collaborators include Simon Zadek[8] and Peter Raynard.[5] She has been senior researcher for the UNEP Inquiry into The Design of a Sustainable Financial Systems and in 2015 she became a consultant at the Center for Global Development (CGD), a think-tank that campaigns against poverty. She described her work as being "in a field of technocratic activism: think tank research, where people are expected to be mission driven and to share their personal, evidence based, opinion in order to influence public policy debates towards socially beneficial goals".[9]

Legal case[]

Main article: Maya Forstater v Centre for Global Development

In October 2018, she was subject to an internal investigation at the Center for Global Development after some staff raised internal concerns about her social media activity. In 2018, she made on average 5 to 10 posts on Twitter every day, some of which the complaint alleged were transphobic.[10]

On 31 December 2018, her contract as a consultant at the Center for Global Development came to an end and was not renewed. She then sued the Centre, alleging that she had been fired because of her philosophical beliefs, which violated anti-discrimination provisions of the Equality Act 2010. The case, Maya Forstater v Centre for Global Development, attracted widespread media coverage, including the use of the hashtag #IStandWithMaya on social media by prominent supporters such as JK Rowling, and she fundraised over £120,000 for it.[11][12][13][14][15]

In November 2019, the Employment Tribunal released its judgment on the case, ruling against her on the grounds that she "is absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment."[10] She appealed the judgment, which was heard by the Employment Appeal Tribunal over two days on 27 and 28 April 2021.[16] Judgment was published on 10th June 2021. She won this appeal because the Appeal Tribunal concluded (unlike the original tribunal) that the "gender critical" belief that biological sex is real, important and immutable was worthy of respect in a democratic society, and therefore met the legal test of a genuine and important philosophical position and as such is protected under the UK's equality laws. A fresh tribunal would have to be convened in order to determine whether it was this belief that was the reason for the non-renewal of her contract.[17][18]

Campaigning[]

In March 2019, Forstater rebuked the Minister for Women and Equalities, Penny Mordaunt, for her performance in a Mumsnet webchat on International Women's Day. Mordaunt received many questions regarding women and transgender people that she did not answer.[19] Forstater wrote in the Independent that Mordaunt had asked for "discussions on the topic of sex and gender identity to take place in a 'climate of respect, empathy and understanding', but when faced with a group of mothers asking respectful and carefully researched questions, she ducked and ran".[20]

In October 2020, she was a founding officer of lobby group Sex Matters, which describes itself as having "a singular mission: to reestablish that sex matters in rules, laws, policies, language and culture" and that has lobbied for organisations to leave LGBT+ charity Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme.[21]

In late-May 2021, Forstater wrote a comment under an article published in The BMJ stating that she believed that gender identity should not be used in the collection of sex data for medical matters. The authors of the article responded that she had mischaracterised the article, as they were not advocating that gender identity be used as a proxy for sex, but rather that "relevant and accurate information about a person’s body and health needs cannot reliably be assumed with sex assigned at birth data."[22]

In an article published in March 2021 in the Journal of Philosophy of Education, Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan referenced Forstater's case as an example of women who "face campaigns of harassment, including attempts to get them fired" for discussing the rights of women and girls and the potential conflicts this may have with campaigns for transgender rights.[23] Forstater's experiences are referred to in Kathleen Stock's book Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism in the context of how Stonewall might influence court rulings.[24]

In May 2021, she was among 41 signatories to an open letter calling on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to end its membership of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme, and on the Committee on Standards in Public Life to oversee a review of Stonewall's influence and control over the Human Resources policies of public institutions.[25][26] Later that month, the EHRC withdrew from membership of the scheme.

In 2021 Baroness Falkner of Margravine, the new EHRC chair, mentioned Forstater in her first interview after taking office, citing her as someone abused for her reasonable belief.[27][28] Forstater was an invited speaker to a University of Cambridge student event on the topic of freedom of speech and belief.[29]

Family[]

Forstater is a daughter of film producer Mark Forstater.[30]

Selected works[]

  • Raynard, Peter and Forstater, Maya (2002) Corporate social responsibility : implications for small and medium enterprises in developing countries United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO)[5] Digital Library in Public Relations
  • Forstater, Maya (2002). Business and Poverty : Bridging the Gap. International Business Leaders Forum. ISBN 978-0-7546-2979-5.[31]
  • Forstater, Maya (2006). What assures consumers?. ISBN 978-1-9016-9326-3.[32]
  • Forstater, Maya (2012). Shaping a Sustainable Future.[33]

References[]

  1. ^ "Maya Forstater: Who is woman in employment tribunal over transgender comments?". The Independent. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  2. ^ Kahler, Miles; Forstater, Maya; Findley, Michael G.; Vittori, Jodi; Westenberg, Erica; Fanusie, Yaya J. (2018). "About the Authors". Global Governance to Combat Illicit Financial Flows: 66–68.
  3. ^ "Maya Forstater". Tax Journal. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  4. ^ Smith, Helen-Ann (24 April 2021). "Maya Forstater: Woman who lost job over transgender views warns of 'scary' precedent if her tribunal appeal fails". Sky News. Retrieved 26 June 2021. Ms Forstater is a tax expert and a feminist and is the protagonist in a bitter legal battle about sex, gender and free speech.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Raynard, Peter; Forstater, Maya (2002). Corporate social responsibility : implications for small and medium enterprises in developing countries. United Nations Development Organisation.
  6. ^ Forstater, M (2018). "Illicit financial flows, trade misinvoicing, and multinational tax avoidance: the same or different?" (PDF). CGD Policy Paper, 123, 29.
  7. ^ Forstater, M (2002). "Corporate social responsibility: Implications for small and medium enterprises in developing countries". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Zadek, Simon; Forstater, Maya; Yu, Kelly (July 2012). "The Political Economy of Responsible Business in China". Journal of Current Chinese Affairs.
  9. ^ Forstater, Maya (18 December 2020). "Claimant's Witness Statement". Medium. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b "Maya Forstater vs CGD Europe Centre for Global Development and Masood Ahmed. Case Number: 2200909/2019 - Judgment" (PDF). gov.uk. The Employment Tribunals.
  11. ^ "Maya Forstater: Woman loses tribunal over transgender tweets". BBC News. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  12. ^ Editor, Jonathan Ames, Legal. "Trans ruling over Maya Forstater was Orwellian, tribunal told". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 May 2021.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Maya Forstater's case was about protected beliefs, not trans rights | Gaby Hinsliff". the Guardian. 22 December 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  14. ^ Foundation, Thomson Reuters. "Crowdfunding drives wave of UK lawsuits over trans rights". news.trust.org. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  15. ^ Davies, Megan (19 December 2019). "Harry Potter author JK Rowling receives backlash for controversial tweet". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  16. ^ Censorship, Index on (28 April 2021). "Statement on the Maya Forstater tribunal". Index on Censorship. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Woman accused of transphobia wins landmark employment case". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Maya Forstater: Woman wins tribunal appeal over transgender tweets". BBC News. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  19. ^ Pedersen, Sarah (2020). The Politicization of Mumsnet. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. ISBN 978-1-83909-471-2. Given her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, it is perhaps not surprising to note that the majority of questions posed for Mordaunt were on the topics of GRA reform, the prescription of 'puberty blocking' drugs to children, how schools should safeguard both female and trans students, trans people in sport and in prisons, and the basic question of the definition of 'woman'.
  20. ^ Forstater, Maya (27 March 2019). "Has Penny Mordaunt got away with the worst Mumsnet performance ever?". Independent. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  21. ^ "About". Sex Matters. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  22. ^ "Re: In Response to Maya Forstater". 2 June 2021: n1261. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. ^ Suissa, Judith; Sullivan, Alice (2021). "The Gender Wars, Academic Freedom and Education". Journal of Philosophy of Education. 55 (1): 55–82. doi:10.1111/1467-9752.12549. ISSN 1467-9752.
  24. ^ STOCK, KATHLEEN (2021). MATERIAL GIRLS. [S.l.]: FLEET. ISBN 978-0-349-72660-1. OCLC 1162883174.
  25. ^ "Open Letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission". Sex Matters. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  26. ^ Griffiths, Sian. "Employers 'discipline staff who question trans rights'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  27. ^ Wright, Oliver (15 May 2021). "Women must be heard on transgender identity, says new equalities chief". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Human rights body leaves Stonewall diversity scheme". BBC News. 23 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  29. ^ Somerville, Ewan (8 March 2021). "Cambridge University students host free-speech event for silenced academics". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  30. ^ Parsons, Vic (19 December 2019). "Anti-trans 'gender critical' views not a protected characteristic under the equalities act, judge rules". PinkNews. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  31. ^ Business and Poverty: Bridging the Gap. ASIN 1899159053.
  32. ^ Forstater, Maya. "What assures consumers?". academia.edu.
  33. ^ "Shaping a Sustainable Future" (PDF). un.org.

External links[]

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