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Virago Women’s Workshop vs. transgender people

Virago Women’s Workshop is a British “women only” trans-exclusionary meeting space in Leeds.

Background

Co-founder Emma Dolan described the process of becoming an anti-trans extremist in 2018:

  • “A 13yr old girl I knew, not yet through puberty, in foster care, ‘complex needs’ is the polite phrase I think, a lovely girl who thus far had had a hard life, was bought a breast binder by her mum for her birthday, and was being told that she could become a boy instead.”
  • “The Labour Party, of which I’m a member, who I’d always voted for, have leafleted and door knocked for – was allowing men who say they are women to be put on All Women Shortlists.”
  • “I woke up one morning to find I been put in a Labour Party dossier of transphobes.”
  • “I started making marching banners. The popular ‘Wrong Side of History My Arse’ for Procession 2018, banners for WPUK and FiLiA, and ‘Feminism-Back By Popular Demand.'”

Following complaints about Dolan’s anti-trans activism, Dolan was asked to leave the studio space. Maya Forstater and members of FiLiA suggested threatening litigation, and the matter was quietly settled, after which Dolan and two others set up Virago Women’s Workshop.

Virago Women’s Workshop was incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in December 2021.

Anti-trans activism

Virago Women’s Workshop’s “single-sex policy” states: “We provide a female-only space. This is non-negotiable and does not require case-by-case (i.e. attendee by attendee) assessment. Members are required to sign or provide an e-signature, confirming that they agree to our policy as a condition of their membership. We reserve the right to withdraw membership if a member breaks the terms of this agreement, including misleading or obfuscating in declaring their sex.”

In 2026, Amnesty International UK published two reports on the “anti-rights” movement in the UK, listing Virago Women’s Workshop in the “gender critical” category. Virago sent a letter in response.

People

  • Jan Elizabeth Baxter (born 1961): officer 2021–
  • Emma Jane Dolan (born 1966): officer 2021–
  • Anne Stafford (born 1954): officer 2021–2024

Resources

GC Watch UK (antirights.com)

Virago Women’s Workshop (viragowomensworkshop.co.uk)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Linktree (linktr.ee)

Instagram (httinstagram.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

UK Companies House (find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk)