Author: Steph

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Steph Richards (she/her) is a 74-year-old human rights activist, intersectional feminist, and recipient of a 2023 Inspirational Women of Portsmouth Award. Holding a Gender Recognition Certificate and "post op", she is the founder and Chair of Translucent.Org.UK, which was named LGBT Organisation of the Year at the 2022 National Diversity Awards. Steph was also shortlisted as a Positive Role Model for Gender at the 2025 National Diversity Awards. Steph’s leadership spans political, healthcare, and community advocacy. She served as the Women’s and LGBT Officer for the Portsmouth Labour Party (2021–2024), co-founded the Women’s Action Network (Portsmouth), and is a former CEO of a women’s health charity. A passionate champion for women's healthcare, she possesses extensive expertise in baby loss awareness, actively defends UK abortion rights and is a member of "Women Against the Far-Right". Calling out VAWG, Steph has researched and written about 125 women and girls killed by a man. A prominent voice in national media and debate, Steph has been featured live on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, Anti Social, Good Morning Britain, Times Radio, LBC, GB News, and Channel 4 News. In 2023, she debated trans human rights alongside Harvard biologist Dr. Carole Hooven at a prominent US university event.

House of Commons UK

What is a woman?

By Steph's Blog 3 Mins Read

What is a woman? Recently, this question has been thrown at politicians, particularly the Conservative leadership candidates. The real question is why? There has been no specific incident or campaign to challenge what a woman is. Nor, come to that what a man is? Surely, if any question is relevant, this should be the question to ask? Is it not men who start wars? Is it not men that occupy 96% of prison places? Is it not men who commit murder and rape? Well, invariably, it is not trans women, is it? We have not started any war, though…

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