Health chief slammed for lengthy definition of a woman

Health chief Brendan Murphy has been accused of buying into “radical gender ideology” for his lengthy definition of a woman.

Health chief Brendan Murphy has been blasted for his 78 word definition of a woman with experts claiming he has bought into “radical gender ideology”.

Dr Murphy raised eyebrows back in April when he was unable to define the word “woman” when asked by Liberal Senator Alex Antic at a Senate estimates hearing.

Dr Murphy — the nation’s former chief medical officer before being appointed Secretary of the Department of Health — promised to provide an answer later, which came this week when he submitted:

“The frameworks adopted to define a person’s gender include chromosomal makeup, the gender assigned at birth, and the gender with which a person identifies,” it read.

“The Department of Health does not adopt a single definition.

“Health policies and access to health programs are based on clinical evidence and clinical need for all Australians, regardless of gender identity, biological characteristics, or genetic variations.

“Our programs are designed to be inclusive and to provide better health and wellbeing for all Australians.”

Mr Antic said the department’s final response was “absolute drivel”.

“There really couldn’t be a simpler question that asking how they define a woman, yet another one of our taxpayer funded departments has shown how deeply it has become infected with the corrosive principles of radical gender theory,” he said.

“The Minister must take urgent action to remove this rhetoric from the Department of Health to give Australians confidence in the bona fides of the department.”

Liberal Senator Alex Antic asked the Department of Health to confirm the definition of a woman.

Dr Brendan Murphy failed to answer the question, telling Senate Estimates “it’s a very contested space at the moment”.

Director of the foundations of western civilisation program at the institute of public affair Dr Bella d’Abrera said the department has “bought into radical gender ideology”.

“The Department of Health’s answer to the question comes straight out of a Gender Studies department,” she said.

“The fact that the Department of Health is unwilling to define a woman reveals that it has completely bought into radical gender ideology.

“It has no business having a National Women’s Health Strategy if it does not believe in the existence of women.”

University of Melbourne political philosophy senior lecturer Holly Lawford-Smith said the lengthy definition was far too long.

“It is typical of progressives at the moment, who cannot utter basic truths because they worry about offending minority groups,” she said.

“We need to reclaim some common sense in law and policy-making.”

Ms Lawford-Smith said, by definition, a woman was an adult human female.

“Some men identify as women, and might have unique issues relating to that,” she said.

“We can address those issues without collapsing common sense.

“Being polite or inclusive to a man is not more important than naming the reality of women’s lives and bodies, in a society marked by a long history of sexism and exclusion of women.”

At the hearing, Mr Antic said defining a man and a woman was “basic stuff”.

“I think there are a variety of definitions and I think … perhaps to give a more fulsome answer we should take that on notice,” Dr Murphy said.

“You’re going to take on notice the question of what a woman is?” Mr Antic replied.

“It’s a very contested space at the moment. There are obviously biological definitions … but there are definitions in terms of how people identify themselves,” Dr Murphy said.

“We’re happy to provide our working definitions on those.”