(LifeSiteNews) — United Nations (UN) women’s rights advisor Reem Alsalem called on governments to define gender based on biology, not ideology.
During the June 26 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls Reem Alsalem presented her new report condemning the erasure of women and girls due to LGBT ideology.
“You cannot protect what you cannot define,” Alsalem declared.
“I never thought the day would come where the mandate would deem it necessary to prepare a report affirming that the words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ refer to distinct biological and legal categories,” she continued.
The report emphasized that sex-based violence is rooted in the biological distinctions of sex, defined as the physical and physiological characteristics that differentiate males and females.
It further recommended “the proper and effective consideration of sex in understanding the experiences of discrimination of women and girls, preventing further violence and responding to the needs of survivors.”
In her report, Alsalem defines sex as “a biological category and as a distinction between women and men.” Gender is defined as “the social meanings given to biological sex differences” and is “supplementary to and built upon biological differences between women and men.”
Alsalem also condemned government for using gender ideology to erase women and girls from their policies in favor of “gender-inclusive” language. Recently, governments have begun referring to mothers as “birthing people” and women as “people who menstruate.”
“Erasing women and women-specific language and needs based on their sex is not only wrong. It is demeaning. It is regressive and constitutes one of the worst forms of violence against women and girls that they can experience,” Alsalem said.
“Such efforts have undermined the practical achievement of equality between men and women,” she wrote in her report. “Women are therefore being denied their rightful recognition as a distinct category in law and society. It is a form of ‘coercive inclusion’ that relies on the expectation that women will be kind enough to sacrifice their own recognition and protection for the sake of others.”
Alsalem’s report was largely condemned by woke countries, who alleged that her call for a return to reality was a “step back” in society. However, the Holy See, Kuwait, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Sudan voiced support of her position.
While defense of biology and science is foreign to the UN, many governments have begun returning to a common sense position in regard to sex and gender.
In April, the U.K. Supreme Court issued a ruling stating that “woman” in law refers to an actual females and that so-called transgender “women” – gender-confused men – are not female.
Similarly, upon taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating that federal agencies recognize only two sexes – male and female – based on biological characteristics at conception.
