Human rights activist Steph Richards, 73, has been appointed as parliamentary engagement officer for Endometriosis South Coast.
Richards, a transgender woman, previously stepped down as the charity’s CEO in 2024 after facing criticism from some women’s rights campaigners.
Endometriosis is a painful chronic disease linked to the menstrual cycle. It is diagnosed when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.
Many women who suffer with the condition struggle for years to get a diagnosis.
Responding to renewed criticism of Ms Richards’s position, Endometriosis South Coast said it was “scientifically inaccurate” to describe endometriosis as a condition affecting only women.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “It affects people of all genders, including trans men, non-binary and intersex individuals.”
The organisation also said that Richards “was appointed on the basis of her skills and commitment to advancing awareness of endometriosis at a policy level.”
The Telegraph reports: Amanda Craig, 67, an author who suffered from acute endometriosis in her 40s, said Richards is “not qualified, either medically or biologically, to represent the women who suffer from an agonising disease of the uterus that afflicts only women”.
She added: “As someone who lost seven years of health and work due to endometriosis, which was dismissed as ‘middle class middle aged neurosis’ by my male GP, I feel this charity is at best misguided and at worst as insulting as appointing a white person to speak for black people.”
Ms Craig said she was left in agony and disbelieved by doctors when she suffered the condition.
“This is something that’s so specific to the female experience,” she added. “It absolutely needs to be represented by someone with lived experience of this horrible disease.”
Ms Richards has a background in medical research and is also chief executive and founder of the trans campaign group TransLucent.
She stepped down as Endometriosis South Coast’s chief executive in 2024 after criticism from women’s rights campaigners.
Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at the gender-critical charity Sex Matters, added that the new appointment was “deeply offensive”, adding that Ms Richards was “deaf” to the “reasonable discomfort” in her taking on the role.
“Richards is just as inappropriate as a spokesperson for an endometriosis charity as Rachel Dolezal, a white woman who pretended to be black, was as a spokesman for the NAACP, an American organisation that represents black people.
“Endometriosis isn’t merely a disease that only affects women; it specifically affects women’s reproductive organs. Speaking about endometriosis, for women, means speaking about their most private bodily functions…
“Showing genuine empathy with women who suffer from this terrible disease would mean understanding that no male person is right for this job and stepping aside.”
Affecting approximately one in 10 women, it can result in severe pain, heavy periods, bloating and infertility.
There is no known cure, but treatments often focus on managing symptoms and improving fertility through pain relief, hormonal treatments such as the pill or coil to stop periods, and surgery to remove endometrial lesions.