An attack on trans women is an attack on women
An attack on trans people is an attack on women
We reject all attacks on trans people. They have led to over 5,000 murders globally since 2008 (when the Trans Murder Monitoring was set up) at the hands of violent men – 94% of the victims were women, 93% women of colour, 46% of those whose occupation was known were sex workers.[i]
Trump and others who target trans communities do not speak for women, regardless of how many (blonde) women they surround themselves with. They are male (usually white, anti-immigrant, anti-gay) supremacists seeking to reinforce men’s dominance over women and children. Why else would they take away women’s right to abortion, health care, asylum and the benefits we need to survive and feed our children? Why else would they defend, demean or deny rape and sexual abuse? The nuclear family they advocate was never a safe place for women. Many of us suffered domestic violence there and the constant threat of having our children taken from us if we fled – globally 140 women and girls are killed every day at the hands of a partner or a close relative.[ii]
It is shocking that some prominent feminists have devoted their energies and funds to target trans women, as if trans women were responsible for rape. This most violent crime has been practically decriminalised by a law-and-order establishment, including the police, which constantly sides with men over women and children – only 1.5% of reported rapes in England and Wales result in conviction. As we all know, rape is widespread, not in public toilets as they would have us believe, but in homes and institutions, not by strangers but by family members and men in positions of power. We will not defeat male violence by attacking trans women who are some of the most vulnerable among us.
We are acutely aware that some of the feminists who attack trans women now, attacked lesbian women when we first came out and even victims of rape in marriage – accusing us of discrediting women’s liberation by ‘widening the issue’. They are hostile to sex workers and to housewives – two sectors seen as bringing ‘sisterhood’ into disrepute by ‘commodifying’ or ‘institutionalising’ women in the bedroom or the kitchen. Instead of supporting our movement for decriminalisation and financial independence, they have undermined us at every turn, even in the face of police crackdowns, deportation and benefit cuts. They have no problem making alliances with right wing religious organisations and political parties[iii]. Their model of liberation is based on personal advancement. It forces women to compete with men in the job market by being available 24/7, just like men are supposed to be, despite any caring responsibility for those of us who are children, have a disability or ill-health, or are elderly.
We are also aware that, in many places, trans and non-binary people are, with women, the most active organisers, including for Palestine. The struggle for the liberation of Palestine is liberating us all from our common enemy – the genocidal supremacist greedy capitalists who care nothing about life, especially if we are women and children of colour, and are only interested in increasing their money and their power. Anti-trans feminists have been conspicuously silent in the face of genocide[iv].
Women are the primary carers everywhere in the world, and the poorest sex. Our 2024 international survey, What Mothers and other Caregivers Want, heard from over 1,000 people in 50 countries, including trans women who movingly described the caring work of looking after each other and each other’s children in a hostile environment. Our demand for a care income spoke to all, regardless of gender.
As survivors of violence, poverty and discrimination we are united against all supremacy – of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, dis/ability, nationality, immigration status, religion, language, wealth…
An attack on any woman, is an attack on all women. Invest in caring, not killing!
Issued by Global Women’s Strike (GWS), Women of Colour GWS, English Collective of Prostitutes, Queer Strike, Street Workers Collective of Ireland, US PROStitutes Collective, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Women Against Rape, and Payday men’s network.
For more information: https://globalwomenstrike.net/ gws@globalwomenstrike.net
February 2026
[i] https://tgeu.org/will-the-cycle-of-violence-ever-end-tgeus-trans-murder-monitoring-project-crosses-5000-cases/
[ii] https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/11/one-woman-or-girl-is-killed-every-10-minutes-by-their-intimate-partner-or-family-member
[iii] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/christian-right-feminists-uk-trans-rights/
The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) backed legislation by the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to criminalise the purchase of sex https://www.nwci.ie/images/uploads/NWCI_Submission_NWS_2017-2020.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
[iv] https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/when-britains-feminists-cheer-bombs-and-sneer-palestinian-suffering?utm_source=chatgpt.com