Women’s Prize Confirm Entrants “Must Be Legally Defined As Female”
The Women's Prize has issued a statement saying that eligibility for the prize extends to “all women” authors where a woman is defined as “a cis woman, a transgender woman or anyone who is legally defined as a woman or of the female sex”.
The statement comes after writer Akwaeke Emezi, who identifies as non-binary, said on social media they would be required to provide information on their “sex as defined by law” by organisers.
According to ‘The Book Seller’, the prize emphasised it seeks to celebrate “the experience of being a woman in all its varied forms”. But, organisers confirmed that “anyone who wishes to enter must also be legally defined as a woman or of the female sex to be able to do so”. The two key documents required to demonstrate this are a birth certificate or a gender recognition certificate.
The policy means trans women who have yet to legally change their gender would not be able to enter. Individuals who identify as non-binary would only be able to enter if legally their gender is female.
Joanna Prior, chair of trustees for the award, said: “The Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded 25 years ago to honour, celebrate and champion women's voices, and to shine a spotlight on phenomenal fiction written by women. Over the past quarter of a century, the prize has publicly championed and amplified a diverse breadth of women's voices and holds the principle of freedom of expression among its core values.
“As a prize which celebrates the voices of women and the experience of being a woman in all its varied forms, we are proud to include as eligible for submission full-length novels written in English by all women. In our terms and conditions, the word 'woman' equates to a cis woman, a transgender woman or anyone who is legally defined as a woman or of the female sex.
“The Trustees of the Women's Prize Trust would like to reassert that we are firmly opposed to any form of discrimination or prejudice on the basis of race, sexuality or gender identity.”
Emezi said that the Women’s Prize had informed their publisher, Faber, that “the information we would require from you regards Akwaeke Emezi's sex as defined by law”, strongly criticising the policy.
“Forget about me–I don’t want this prize—but anyone who uses this kind of language does not fuck with trans women either, so when they say it’s for women, they mean cis women. And yes, this does mean that them longlisting [Freshwater] was transphobic,” Emezi wrote on Twitter.
“It’s fine for me not to be eligible because I’m not a woman! But you not about to be out here on some ‘sex as defined by law’ like that’s not a weapon used against trans women.”
Emezi were longlisted for 2019's prize for their debut novel Freshwater (Faber) but under the new terms and conditions will not be able to enter new novel The Death of Vivek Oji (Faber). The Women's Prize said in a statement about Emezi's longlisting in 2019 that it was “working to formulate a policy around gender fluid/transgender/transgender non-binary writers to provide clarity for the Prize in the future”.
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