- Conference
- 2009 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 23 October 2008
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes recent legislation aimed at ensuring more equal access to goods, facilities and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people – especially as this means more equal access to healthcare provision.
These legislative changes are only recent and many reports highlight the entrenched disparities in the provision of health services for LGBT women.
The Stonewall backed report ‘Prescription for Change’ published in 2008 highlighted some worrying statistics with regard to lesbian and bisexual women:
1)Seventeen per cent of lesbian and bisexual women between the ages of 25 and 64 have never had a cervical smear test, compared to seven per cent of women in general;
2)One in six lesbian and bisexual women aged between 50 and 79 have been diagnosed with breast cancer, compared to one in twenty women in general;
3)Half of lesbian and bisexual women are not out to their GP;
4)One in ten say that a healthcare worker ignored them when they did come out;
5)Just one in nine felt that their partner was welcome during a consultation;
6)One in four lesbian and bisexual women have experienced domestic violence.
Conference also notes the post code lottery facing women seeking gender reassignment services, and the prejudice and discrimination many trans women face when accessing any health services.
Conference reaffirms the crucial role that UNISON can play in tackling workplace causes of discrimination for our members and campaigning to change discriminatory healthcare service provision. Conference welcomes work undertaken by the LGBT self-organised group in recent years, including with the Department of Health, via the LGBT health summit, and in the Charter for Change, which is part of UNISON’s positively public campaign.
Conference instructs the National Woman’s Committee to:
a)disseminate information to generate awareness of the issues, including the use of human rights based approaches to healthcare and the use of equality impact assessments;
b)explore and publicise examples of good practice by UNISON groups and members;
c)work with other parts of the union including UNISON health group, the General Political Fund and Labour Link to campaign for greater access for all to healthcare provision;
d)work with regional groups to specifically include LGBT women’s issues in health care campaigns.