An endometriosis charity has responded to criticism after it announced Steph Richards, a trans woman, as its new chief executive.
This week, news outlets including the Daily Mail have published articles professing “outrage” at Richard’s appointment as CEO of Endometriosis South Coast.
Richards wrote in response on social media: “I do believe the complaints against me are transphobic.”
She wrote that “CEOs are appointed by boards/trustees because of their ‘skill set’, not because of their sex” and pointed out other charity leaders “whose sex doesn’t correspond with those they serve”.
In a BBC interview yesterday, Richards said that the transphobia she had received this week had helped to boost the profile of the charity, which had an overall income of £8,400 last year.
CEO to do day-to-day running
Richards and the charity’s founder and chair Jodie Hughes were interviewed on BBC Radio Four programme Woman‘s Hour by journalist Emma Barnett.
Hughes defended her appointment of Richards who “does a lot of work for women’s health” including activism and awareness.
She said: “The CEO of Prostate Cancer UK is a female; they can’t get prostate cancer. A CEO does not need to have endometriosis, a CEO does not need to be that sex.”
Hughes said decision-making was “still in the hands of the trustees”, all of whom have endometriosis or adenomyosis.
“It will still be me fronting the charity. I will be the face of the charity; Steph is here to do the running of the day-to-day,” she said.
Asked if she regrets the appointment, Hughes replied: “Absolutely not.”
No reservations
In the interview, Richards said she had immediately said yes after Hughes offered her the role “over a cup of tea” and had no reservations about taking it.
Barnett said: “For this sort of condition where, you as a trans woman will know, that you cannot have unless you are born with a womb, you may have had some reservations, as a man may have had some reservations about taking on and being the face of a charity that is for women.”
Richards responded: “But by that analogy, should the CEO of Shelter be living in a tent?”
Barnett asked: “Do you feel as a trans person you could be fairly represented by someone who isn’t trans? It is a very specific situation, it is far less common than homelessness, to go against your previous example – do you feel someone could do that?”
Richards said they could, giving the former CEO of LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall as an example, and said: “Ultimately, if someone is passionate around a cause, which I am around endometriosis, then I think they most certainly can.”
Barnett said: “There is a concern that as a trans activist, now running, being a CEO of an endometriosis charity for women, that you will not preserve the importance of things like the word ‘woman’ and that experience.”
Inclusive language
Referencing Richards’ statement on X, which stated that “in the UK, 10% of those assigned female at birth suffer from this awful disease”, Barnett asked: “Is the word you are looking for there ‘woman’?”
Richards said in response: “I fully understand that women, by a vast majority, suffer from endometriosis. But I do not think it is fair that we turn round and we ignore that there are some trans-men and non-binary people.”
Hughes added: “The inclusive language is something that we have been doing for the past three years in our organisation. That was my decision, that was my decision as a cis heterosexual woman, to make the language inclusive.
“We need to move away from the genealogical side of things because you do not have to be born with a womb to have it.”
Raising the charity’s profile
Richards said: “I was brought in to Endometriosis South Coast to raise the awareness of endometriosis full stop, and also to raise the profile of Endometriosis South Coast.
“It is pretty amazing that in five days I have achieved that, and the vehicle that has done that is transphobia.”
Barnett said: “They are not talking about endometriosis, nobody has suddenly understood the disease anymore, committed to any more funding, done anything to help with diagnosis times, they are talking about whether somebody who is a trans activist can understand them in their position.”
Hughes said: “Every single person that we support [is] in support of this decision. Every single person that is involved in our charity and lives in our area [has] been in support of this. The hate has come from mainly other countries, and a lot of it is from transphobes.
“Literally, the last two days I have not been able to turn my computer on because of the hate.”
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