Oxfam: When misogyny is the mission

Oxfam began life as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. Founded in 1942 by a group of Quakers, its original aim was to send food supplies to the starving women and children in enemy-occupied Greece during World War II. The safety of women and children, however, seems far from its aim now.

Stories in the news week demonstrate the extent to which Oxfam has become a propaganda machine for gender identity ideology, engaging in the most disgusting misogyny and vilification of feminists.

This MO is hardly new. Oxfam has been prioritising gender ideology over women’s wellbeing and denigrating the feminists who defend their sex-based rights for years.

In June 2021, The Telegraph reported on an Oxfam staff training document called ‘Learning About Trans Rights and Inclusion’.

This manual claimed that “Mainstream feminism centres on privileged white women and demands that ‘bad men’ be fired or imprisoned”, which, it adds, “Legitimises criminal punishment, harming black and other marginalised people”. The text was accompanied by a cartoon of a weeping white woman.

The training manual was drawn up after the Oxfam’s LGBT+ network wrote to the leadership team, demanding that it must publicly support trans rights. The letter stated, “To argue that trans-inclusivity would undermine the vital work we do for women and girls is not only transphobic, but also perpetuates the white saviour complex that assumes that we know best for the people we work with”. It went on to claim that it is ‘transphobic’ to question whether men who identify as women could pose a threat to women and that discussions around identity within the charity exposed ‘queer’ employees to ‘harm’.

The training manual Oxfam subsequently produced told staff that protecting single-sex spaces for women “Contributed to transphobia and undermining of trans rights”. It added that “Oxfam stands actively against any implication that the realization of trans rights and inclusion poses a threat to creating a safe environment for all”.

In October 2021 we reported that Oxfam had removed a children’s game from sale after pressure from trans activists.

The children’s bingo game, ‘Wonder Women’, celebrated 48 inspirational women, including Jane Austen, Rosa Parks, Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. More particularly, JK Rowling and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie were also included, as was trans-identified actor Elliot (formerly Ellen) Page.

Oxfam withdrew the game from sale due to pressure from gender zealots within the organisation. It told staff in an email, “We took the decision to remove the game from sale following concerns raised by trans and non-binary colleagues who told us it didn’t live up to our commitment to respect people of all genders”.

Earlier this year we reported on another story involving Oxfam’s staff training. The charity had just released a 92-page ‘inclusivity guide’ for employees which promotes gender ideology and erases the language of motherhood.

LBC @LBC

Oxfam has been criticised for a 'bizarre' new 'inclusive language guide' that apologises for even using English, and tells staff to avoids words like 'mother', 'pregnant woman', and even 'people'

lbc.co.ukOxfam‘s bizarre’ language guide says sorry for using English and warns staff not to use words like ‘mother and people’Oxfam has been slammed for a “bizarre” new “inclusive” language guide issued to staff that warns against using a whole slew of normal words like “stand”, “pregnant mother” and “people” - and even apologises for being written in English.

According to Oxfam GB CEO, Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, using so-called ‘inclusive language’ is going to help the charity end poverty. Or something.

Good Morning Britain @GMB

'What we're learning is if we're going to end poverty, we need to take people with us. And using inclusive language is an important way of showing dignity and respect.' Oxfam GB CEO Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah explains why Oxfam's inclusivity guide has been updated.

Included in the guide is a section on ‘gender justice’ which instructs staff to ignore reality and adhere to the rhetoric of gender woo. It advises against using terms like ‘biological male’ or ‘biological female’ which, it claims, are ‘inaccurate’, but, instead, staff should use the phrase ‘assigned at birth’.

Furthermore, it promotes use of the words ‘cis’ and ‘cisgender’, insisting they must be ‘framed in the context of power’.

The guide validates so-called ‘non-binary identities’.

And, of course, it’s all about the pronouns. Oxfam says, “We avoid assuming it is correct to describe someone as ‘he’ of ‘she’ based on their name or physical appearance”. In other words, staff are expected to lie.

Staff are told that ‘parent’ is preferable to ‘mother' or 'father’ in order to “Avoid assuming the adoption of gendered roles by transgender parents”.

Oxfam is in the news again this week over its prioritising of gender idolatry over the rights, safety and dignity of women.

Writing in Unherd, Julie Bindel reported on an Oxfam employee was hounded out of her job after questioning a claim that JK Rowling is ‘transphobic’.

For several years, Maria (a pseudonym) worked for one of Oxfam’s global outreach programmes. She became involved in a discussion on the internal staff intranet when a colleague suggested that Oxfam shops should ban the sale of JK Rowling’s books. Maria defended JK Rowling and asked for evidence of her alleged ‘transphobia’.

This led to a gruelling internal investigation which saw Maria struggling to clear her name, caused her to have a nervous breakdown and eventually meant she left not only her job but the country.

Oxfam subsequently offered an apology for what it described as ‘procedural mistakes’ but for Maria the damage had already been done. She told Julie Bindel, “My life has been torn apart. It drove me to a breakdown, I lost my confidence and, worst of all, I began to doubt myself… This will hang over me for the rest of my life”.

This heartbreaking story came to light within days of Oxfam releasing a video for Pride Month which was not only blatant propaganda for gender ideology but also a shocking demonization of gender critical voices.

This video was uploaded to YouTube and tweeted by Oxfam’s various Twitter accounts. It was viewed thousands of times. One of the scenes contained an image of three people, two male and one female, whose features had been exaggerated to look bitter and angry, one might even say evil. The female character is wearing a ‘TERF’ badge. The image was accompanied by a voiceover about LGBTQA+ people being ‘preyed on by hate groups’.

Numerous people on social media pointed out the similarities between the female character and JK Rowling.

After being inundated with complaints, Oxfam removed the original video and, a few hours later, released a revised version. This video no longer contains the offensive scene featuring a ‘TERF’ and referring to ‘hate groups’.

It does, however, still contain a scene which normalises the medicalisation of gender non-conforming children and teenagers by depicting a very young ‘trans man’ with mastectomy scars and a character wearing a t-shirt which reads ‘protect trans kids’.

Oxfam’s woke posturing is a little hard to take from a charity which failed to take action when its aid workers were raping girls as young as twelve.

Lets not forget that Oxfam employees, including former country director, Roland van Hauwermeiren, were sexually abusing 12 and 13 year old girls while based in Haiti, supposedly providing aid after an earthquake which killed 250,000 people.

A subsequent investigation found that Oxfam had failed to investigate allegations about the sexual abuse of children, repeatedly fell below expected standards of safeguarding, tried to cover up the Haiti scandal and failed to care for the victims.

For a charity with such a shameful episode in its recent past, Oxfam should be firmly on the side of those upholding and defending the safety of women and girls, not denigrating them as hateful witches.