Fury as GMC removes word ‘mother’ from staff maternity guidance as part of ‘concerted effort’ to ignore women
- Another document suggests that menopause is not exclusive to women
- Backlash comes amid questions over ‘woke ideology’ imposed on NHS
The General Medical Council has changed the word “mother” to neutral terms in its maternity guidance for staff.
Its updated guide to when employees get pregnant now omits the term “mother” entirely.
The internal document now refers to “surrogate fathers” rather than “surrogate mothers,” and all female-specific terms are removed from the text.
A separate guide on the organisation’s menopause policy was also amended to remove references to women.
A GMC employee said the move was a “concerted effort” to ignore women and biology, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The General Medical Council’s staff guidance on maternity and menopause has been amended to remove references to women.
They added that a “woke” ideology was being imposed on people because they were too afraid to speak out against it.
It comes after some NHS hospitals threatened employees with disciplinary action if they did not refer to staff with the correct pronouns.
A Mail on Sunday investigation revealed that 999 operators were told not to use terms such as sir or ma’am but to ask callers their preferred pronouns to avoid confusing them.
Other NHS guidance allows transgender women to use women-only hospital wards, regardless of whether they have had surgery or legally changed their sex.
A government-funded report last year recommended that the NHS use terms such as “breastfeeding” and “frontal birth” instead of gender-laden words, so as not to offend women. pregnant trans people.
Heather Welford, of the campaign group With Woman, said the choice of terms was “ideologically motivated” and “insulting” to women.
The move comes amid a series of questions about the “woke ideology” being imposed on the health service. Last month, The Mail on Sunday revealed that 999 operators were asked to use callers’ correct pronouns instead of addressing them as sir or ma’am.
The GMC’s menopause document also contains suggestions that it is not just a women’s problem.
While the maternity guidance published in 2015 refers to “surrogate mothers”, the updated version refers to “surrogate fathers”.
Helen Joyce, director of Sex Matters, said the decision to delete the word “mother” by a major medical organization “is incredible.”
The GMC said maternity, paternity and adoption policies were clearly titled and reviewed regularly.
