There was a piece on the Today programme concerning this topic that I was not aware off.
Apparently universities have been advised by legal teams that they must enforce gender regulation when certain speakers are on campus. Whatever happened to human rights I hear you ask.
In a statement, UUK [Universities UK] said: "The guidance was approved by senior legal counsel as properly reflecting the law. It is not prescriptive. Universities are independent institutions and will make decisions on a case by case basis.”
Their new guidance to universities on external speakers states that the segregation of the sexes at universities is not discriminatory as long as both men and women are segregated side by side rather than women being made to sit in the back. Would racial apartheid have been non-discriminatory if white and black people had been segregated in the same manner? In fact that is the very argument the apartheid regime of South Africa used when faced with criticism: separate but equal.
This just smacks off taking the point too far and hopefully they will see the folly of their ways and retract this enforcement.
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