EDICa - the £3.5m taxpayer-funded group spreading awareness of Antarctic menstruation
And don't forget it's "people who menstruate"!
In this piece I will introduce you to the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Caucus (EDICa) at Heriot-Watt University - which was awarded £3,457,082 in taxpayer funding last year. This will keep the caucus going until January 2026.
It’s jointly funded by AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, Innovate UK, which fall under the remit of the UKRI:
The British Academy is also a joint funder, itself receiving huge amounts of taxpayer money:
Before I get into the nitty gritty of why the EDICa counts as woke waste, I should add that it does have some sensible elements to it. I am not, for instance, disparaging its work with deaf researchers, nor staff such as Professor Jemima Napier, EDICa’s Deputy Principal Investigator, who is an expert on sign languages, linguistic access, interpreting and translation. These are the sort of things actually needed, in terms of inclusivity initiatives - and paradoxically neglected by a lot of EDI zealots.
But the rest of the EDICa’s activities are “letting the team down”, shall we say.
Perhaps the weirdest thing about the EDICa is its utter obsession with periods, as if they are akin to disability and of equal precedence to, say, ensuring wheelchair access to a building.
EDICa devotes a huge amount of time and resources to periods - specifically trying to educate R&I (Research and Innovation) workplaces on how to be supportive here:
It advises that that workplaces should make “Simple changes in conversation that are inclusive of EVERYONE who menstruates”, recommending the terms “Women, girls and people who menstruate” or “People who menstruate”.
Earlier in the year the EDICa released an entire report on the topic, which begins: “Studies tend to lack an intersectional lens, to reveal how race, gender identity, disability and neurodiversity may inform workplace experiences of people who menstruate.”
It even suggests that there’s period racism, warning that “Participants from racially diverse groups experience further marginalisation in relation to menstrual health at work due to cultural bias and racist assumptions”, giving the example of “an ecologist working in a tropical Western African nation, who recounted how the men in the community asked her male colleagues if she was menstruating.”
Here’s a graphic from EDICa’s Instagram showing some of the challenges for “people who menstruate” in “managing menstrual health”.
Other takeaways from the report are that “Trans women might experience symptoms related to the menstrual cycle caused by hormonal treatments.”
It recommends “Organisation wide menstrual health education programme and embed into institution wide equalities and health and safety initiatives”; “‘menstruation toolkit’ which brings together relevant policies, information, sources of support that should be available to all and appropriately communicated”; and the possibility of “menstrual leave”.
Furthermore, companies are advised to/ to have: “Talk about periods: regular conversations within teams about menstruation and peri/menopause which take into account cultural differences and personal circumstances. An intersectional approach is highly recommended to truly reflect the diversity of experiences.”
Hopefully you’ve got all that, because you wouldn’t want to be like the “poorly informed managers and colleagues” or high-fiving men below:
While workplaces are having regular conversations about periods, they might want to read up on “neurodivergent women [sorry, EDICa, don’t you mean “people who menstruate”?!] managing their menstrual health”:
The resources don't stop there. In one post, EDICa asks “Have you ever considered how researchers in Antarctica manage menstrual health?🩸”
Can’t say I have, really.
But thank goodness this £3.5m caucus can explain!
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