Charity boss apologises to rape survivors over crisis centre failings

Mary McCool & Fiona Stalker
BBC Scotland News

A charity chief executive has apologised "unreservedly" to rape survivors affected by failings at a support centre in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) came under fire when a review found it had failed to provide women-only spaces for 16 months, and that its CEO - trans woman Mridul Wadhwa - had not acted professionally or understood the limits of her authority.

Sandy Brindley, of Rape Crisis Scotland, said she found out the centre was not following national standards last October and paused referrals 11 months later when the review said safeguarding was a problem.

She told BBC Scotland's Drivetime programme there was no reason why transgender people could not work in rape support centres, but that services must also provide women-only spaces.

Ms Brindley stressed that Rape Crisis Scotland, which is the national charity that sets service standards for member centres, had no involvement in hiring Ms Wadhwa - who stood down from her role after the review was published last week.

However she said there had been "no reason" not to agree with the appointment at the time as Ms Wadhwa had significant experience of working in the sector.

The role Ms Wadhwa had is reserved for women only.

Under updated guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, external that was published earlier this year, the definition of women only can include trans women who have a gender recognition certificate (GRC).

However, it is legal to prevent trans women – including those with a GRC - from applying for a women-only role if it is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.

The guidance gives an example of a public changing room attendant who would need to be the same sex as the people using the facilities.

Acknowledging that Ms Wadhwa's appointment in 2021 had been controversial, Ms Brindley said: "I was not involved in that appointment or that decision. But what I would say is that most rape crisis centres in Scotland provide support to men, women, trans people and non-binary people.

"There is no inherent reason within that, that you could not have a trans person working within a rape crisis centre.

"I think what is crucial however, is that if you do have a rape crisis service, that is supporting all survivors is that there's dedicated women-only spaces within that."

Ms Brindley added she "absolutely recognised" that women-only spaces were a priority for many women using rape support services.

Ms Wadhwa was living as a woman in her native India before arriving in the UK in 2002. Her passport said she was female.

She has been working in the the violence against women and equality sectors in Scotland since 2005.

She has previously tried to stand for election for the SNP but was not selected as a candidate and later joined the Scottish Greens.

In a 2020 interview with The Ferret, external news service, she said that coverage of claims she was “legally male” had unleashed “a host of hate” and that the focus on having a gender recognition certificate was racist as well as transphobic because it failed to take in Indian cultural norms.

The following year she was interviewed on the Guilty Feminist podcast, and was asked about rape survivors who might be uncomfortable with the presence of trans women in spaces such as rape crisis centres.

In her response, she said that “sexual violence can happen to bigoted people too” and that if rape victims hold “unacceptable beliefs that are discriminatory in nature we will begin to work with you on your journey of recovery from trauma”.

'Damage to some survivors'

Controversy arose around the Edinburgh centre when an employment tribunal found in May of this year that a counsellor - Roz Adams - had been unfairly constructively dismissed over her belief that people who used the service should be able to know the sex of the staff that would be dealing with their case.

Ms Wadhwa was highlighted in the tribunal outcome as she appeared to believe that Ms Adams was transphobic.

Rape Crisis Scotland then commissioned legal consultant Vicky Ling to review the Edinburgh service.

Ms Ling found that the centre had failed to protect women-only spaces for 16 months and that Ms Wadhwa "did not understand the limits on her role’s authority, when to refer decisions to trustees and failed to set professional standards of behaviour".

The report also said there was "evidence that the actions of some ERCC staff had caused damage to some survivors", and that concerns had been raised that some women were "excluding themselves from approaching Rape Crisis Centres including ERCC" because of their approach to gender identity.

Ms Ling also said she had been made aware that some professionals had heard that "some survivors did not feel safe using the centre".

After the report was published, Rape Crisis Scotland said it would pause referrals to ERCC - though people can still self-refer - until it was happy the review recommendations had been put in place.

Ms Brindley said she knew nothing of issues at the centre until October last year.

She said she then advised the ERCC board to settle the case rather than proceeding with the employment tribunal and acknowledged she should have been aware of the conflict sooner.

Ms Brindley added there had been "significant failures" at the ERCC and she hoped to introduce a "robust framework of assessment" to make sure the national standards are followed and that women-only spaces are provided in future.

Groups including For Women Scotland, which has campaigned against changes to transgender rights, have accused the ERCC board of "ignoring its own culpability".

The BBC understands Ms Brindley has the full support of Rape Crisis Scotland's board to stay in post despite Conservative MSP Sue Webber calling for her to quit.

Ms Brindley said the controversy had led to rape survivors who supported the charity experiencing "horrendous" abuse online, including being told that they "must be lying" about being raped.

"It is absolutely astonishing to me that this is the position we're in where rape survivors can be treated in this way in the name of women's rights supposedly," said Ms Brindley.

"I think the onus is on me as chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland and on the rape crisis movement to try and move to a place where Rape Crisis is not being weaponised in the way it has."

She stressed that rape survivors could rely on the charity and that it would meet their needs.

Ms Brindley also addressed the comments made by Ms Wadhwa in the podcast, saying: "I do not think the word ‘bigot’ and ‘rape survivor’ should be used in the same sentence.

"When that podcast came out, Mridul assured us that her comments had been taken out of context - that she hadn’t intended them to refer to rape survivors that wanted a single-sex service."

The backdrop to this case is the long-running debate over gender reforms - and concerns among some campaigners about the impact on women's spaces and services.

The Scottish government's plans to change the law on gender recognition - and bring in a new system of self-ID - were blocked by UK ministers in 2023.

But the debate over the rights of both trans people and women and girls has continued ever since.

Some say this case has exposed a desire to prioritise gender ideology at the expense of women's safety in an organisation that should be firmly focusing on the latter. Other say it is possible to offer a trans-inclusive service that still protects and promotes women's rights.

As chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, Sandy Brindley has faced calls to resign. She has apologised to survivors and promised to improve oversight.

But it's likely that questions over governance will remain - including what she knew and when, and whether action to address failings at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre could have been taken earlier.

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