The next item of business is a debate on motion
S6M-11469, in the name of Siobhian Brown, on the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
I invite members who wish to participate in the debate to press their request-to-speak button
now or as soon as possible. I advise members that there is no time in hand and that speaking
allocations will therefore be enforced vigorously. During the annual 16 days of activism against
gender-based violence campaign, individuals and organisations w
orldwide call for the prevention
and elimination of violence against women and girls. I am proud that the Scottish Parliament
remains an active part of that worldwide call, but we should all be saddened that it is necessary
in 2023. Although I welcome Scotland’s and the Parliament’s recognition of the 16 days campaign
and a debate in which the Parliament can unite in calling for continued action to tackle violence
against women and girls, it is shocking that we still need to address that de
vastating issue
and its harms to individuals and our society. No matter how far we have come as a society, abuse and violence against half of our
population are still prevalent. Violence against women has a profound impact on women’s
and girls’ lives, with detriments to health, wellbeing, financial stability, the fulfilment
of potential and, ultimately, gender equality. Each year, the 16 days campaign focuses on a
specific theme. This year, Scottish partners agreed the theme “Imagine a Scot
land without
violence against women”. That is the vision at the heart of “Equally Safe: Scotland’s strategy
for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls”. The strategy, which is
co-owned between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities,
sets out a vision of a strong and flourishing country in which all individuals are equally
safe and respected and in which women and girls live free from all forms of violence and abuse
and the attitudes th
at help to perpetuate them. I am really pleased to see in the public gallery
today Councillor Maureen Chalmers, who is COSLA’s community wellbeing spokesperson and my co-chair
on the equally safe joint strategic board—I know that we will all welcome her. Councillor
Chalmers’s presence reminds us of the necessity of visible leadership across all spheres of
government and our institutions to address violence against women and girls. Leadership and
action are absolutely necessary, as we all kn
ow. The equally safe strategy provides a framework
for action to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls. Over the past
year, we have worked with Councillor Chalmers and our joint strategic board to gather views on
how that important strategy could be strengthened and reinvigorated as part of a refresh.
Engagement with our partners across the sector provided an opportunity for us to reflect
on recent societal changes and understand the key issues that we must add
ress to prevent and
eradicate violence against women and girls. I am grateful to everyone who has generously
shared their experience to help to create a strategy whose ambition we can look to with pride.
I recognise those who work in the specialist support organisations, who have amassed a wealth
of experience from supporting victim survivors over many years. Their insight and wisdom are
valued by all of us, and we will continue to work with those stakeholders as we develop our policy
resp
onses across the entirety of government. The strategy will be launched next week. It
is not an end in itself but a continuation of our focus and practical work. We need to
make progress on advancing women’s equality in a range of spaces—economic,
civic, social and cultural. Although there has been significant progress
in policy, practices and responses to violence against women, and there are more people
who will call out behaviour and action, we all know that women’s lives continue to be
constrained by the threat and experience of rape and sexual abuse, domestic abuse, stalking,
sexual harassment and other forms of violence. Women and girls continue to feel that it is up to
us to modify our behaviour to keep safe. However, as we all know, it is men—it is predominantly and
overwhelmingly men—who carry out the violence, harassment and abuse, and, to tackle
and end the violence, it is men who need to not just modify but fully change their
behaviour and attitudes. They—not the
victims or those who are threatened—are responsible
for their actions, and they need to change, just as society needs to change the systemic
inequalities that can underpin that behaviour. Women’s inequality is both a cause and
a consequence of violence against women. Gender stereotypes and norms continue
to limit women’s access to labour market opportunities and economic resources,
which affects levels of economic independence. Eradicating violence against women will
require us to tackle e
ntrenched gender inequalities. That is why our refreshed equally
safe strategy places even greater emphasis on primary prevention to stop violence against
women and girls before it occurs by tackling the root cause of the problem: gender inequality.
That means focusing on the structures, systems, policies and assumptions that we all live with. It
also means understanding the issue through data, which is why further work on supporting data
is being progressed through the domestic abuse justi
ce round-table process. Extensive
engagement over the past year with a wide range of stakeholders in the public and third
sectors has shown just how important that is. The equally safe strategy is the anchor of
our approach, which emphasises the importance of primary prevention of violence by tackling
women’s inequality, building the capability and capacity of mainstream and specialist services,
ensuring a robust justice response to supporting survivors, and holding perpetrators to
account
for their actions and choices. We recognise how important it is to educate
children and young people and to challenge outdated stereotypes, and we continue to
take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender-based violence and sexual
harassment. Rape Crisis Scotland provides a national sexual violence prevention programme
to all local authority secondary schools in Scotland, and our mentors in violence
prevention Scotland programme is working to tackle gender stereotypes and at
titudes
that condone violence against women and girls. As part of the refresh of the equally safe
strategy, we heard concerns relating to online and technology-enabled violence against
women. Although everyone recognises the positive benefits of digital communication, I
recognise that it offers additional tools and channels for perpetrators of abuse.
Our ever-growing reliance on social platforms can exacerbate the dangers
with which we are already familiar. In response to those online dang
ers,
we are progressing the development of evidence briefings on technology-facilitated
violence against women and girls to inform our policy development. Furthermore, we are providing
funding to organisations such as South West Grid For Learning Trust Ltd to raise awareness and
increase understanding of intimate image abuse and to facilitate the delivery of practical
support for people who are affected by it. We have been told of concerns about the negative
influence of pornography and of
the need to work collaboratively to consider how it drives the
societal issues that lead to violence against women and girls. The refresh of the equally safe
strategy enables us to adapt to changes in the social and legislative landscape without altering
the strategy’s valued aims and objectives. Public policy can be a powerful tool for creating
a context that is hostile to violence against women and girls. That is why the equally safe
in practice training modules on gender equality and vi
olence against women are now available
to Scottish Government civil servants. The modules, which were developed by Scottish Women’s
Aid, offer valuable insights to help officials to create policies and acknowledge the impact of
violence against women on the lives of women and girls. In addition, Engender has been funded
to explore primary prevention policy approaches and create a toolkit to enable policy makers
to embed primary prevention in policy making. I have met survivors and many peop
le who
work with them. They have told me about the harms caused to individuals, their families and
their communities. They have told me about the challenges of getting support and of being heard
and taken seriously. They have told me about how perpetrators continue to use systems and
services to abuse. They have told us about the challenges that they face as a result of
the cost of living crisis. Black and minority ethnic women have explained the specific
challenges that they face in getti
ng their voice heard and the need to better understand
the violence and abuse that they experience. In that context, the Scottish Government,
alongside our partners in COSLA, will consider the funding and procurement recommendations in
“The Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against Women and
Girls Services”. We are committed to working with partners to ensure the sustainability of
funding, and a project board of key public sector and specialist stakeholde
rs is being formed to
oversee that work. I take this opportunity to thank the chair and the advisory group for
the breadth of work that was undertaken. The 16 days campaign is an opportunity to
highlight the blight of violence against women and girls. However, that violence is a
concern 365 days a year, each and every year, and sustained action is needed to address it. We
must seek opportunities to work collaboratively and constructively wherever possible. We
must continue to work together
with partners, organisations and society to stamp out
violence and misogyny wherever we see it. It is vital that we keep our eyes on the
prize of ending men’s violence against women and girls. We must move forward with a
shared understanding of the underlying causes and therefore what needs to change to end
violence for good and ensure that the equally safe strategic approach continues to deliver
the galvanising focus that it has had to date. Engender recently noted that women
who have ex
perienced abuse found it “difficult to imagine a world without abuse” and that they lacked hope that prevention of men’s abuse of women is possible. Is that not
a depressing indictment of our society? You need to conclude, minister. However, as difficult as it is, I imagine
a world in which women and girls are free from the violence of men. We all have
a role to play in challenging everyday sexism and the systems, cultures and norms
that perpetuate violence against women and girls. Let us co
ntinue to do that today,
for the rest of the 16 days, and every day. I move, That the Parliament recognises the
international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign;
welcomes the 2023 national theme, “Imagine a Scotland without Gender-based Violence”;
condemns any violence against women and girls, and acknowledges the significant damage and
harm that it causes to individuals and to wider society; recognises that the eradication
of such violence can only be achieved thro
ugh social change and changes in attitudes, actions
and behaviour, and acknowledges, therefore, the responsibility of collective leadership across
all spheres of government and society to challenge the gender inequalities that fundamentally
underpin violence against women and girls. Thank you, minister. I have warned members that there is no time
in hand and that the chair will intervene, so your peroration should start
before the end of your speech, not at the point at which
you should ha
ve concluded it. I am pleased to open this debate for my party,
and I welcome the Parliament taking the chance to discuss this crucial issue during
the international 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign.
As the minister has noted, this year’s theme in Scotland is “Imagine a Scotland without
gender-based violence”. The sad fact is that we can only imagine that. It is a fantasy at the
moment; it is not anywhere close to reality. Violence against women is everywhere. It
is ingrained in society. A recent survey by the NASUWT, the teachers union, revealed that, although male teachers experience more
threats of physical violence or abuse, women experience more actual physical violence,
and the frequency is substantially higher. That is not acceptable, and we must take action to stop
the increasing violence and abuse in our schools. The police record more than 170 incidents
of domestic abuse every single day in Scotland. Almost 65,000 instances
of domestic abu
se were recorded in 2021-22. Attacks and abuse are common, not
rare, for women, and that needs to change. The Government motion is right that we
need a radical social change to prevent this violence. We agree with the motion
that there is a need for a system-wide approach. We support the motion’s demand
for collective responsibility—for everyone in Scotland to take an active role
in preventing violence against women. That said, we feel that the Government can and
should lead the way. It co
uld make changes to the justice system so that it does a better job
of protecting women and preventing harm. We have also put forward a suggestion to improve
it. My colleague Pam Gosal MSP has proposed a domestic abuse prevention bill that, if enacted,
would make Scotland a world leader in tackling domestic abuse. There are many changes that could
be made to the justice system to prevent violence against women from occurring in the first place.
We hope that the Government will take the spir
it of its motion forward and fully consider
accepting and introducing that proposal. However, it is not only on prevention that
the Government can make a difference. The system needs to be improved, so that, when
violence does occur, there are effective deterrents against future offences. So
many acts of violence against women are repeat offences. More than half of all domestic
abuse crimes fall into that category. We need to focus on changing criminals’ behaviour
to prevent further attack
s on women. Will the member take an intervention? There is no spare time and my speech is
full of points that I want to make—sorry. If offenders believe that the police do not
have the resources to monitor or pursue them, that will not help women. If offenders think
that the punishments for crimes are fairly soft, that will not help women. What will help women is
making sure that they are supported on the road to justice. As it stands, it often feels to victims
and survivors as if the syste
m is working against them. Women feel that the system lets violent men
continue to harass them in a number of ways. They feel that the court process and its aftermath
can be exploited by violent and sexual offenders. I am sure that every single MSP will be able to
cite a constituent who has contacted them because a violent man will not leave them or their family
alone. I will raise the experience of one family I have been working with since I was elected. As per
their wishes, I have protect
ed their anonymity. The family have been plagued by a violent man for
years. Two years ago, in the chamber debate on the same topic, I spoke about their experiences.
To our shame, their troubles are on-going. From 2005 onwards, the man terrorised multiple
families, including three of his own children. He has abused and assaulted mothers, and he
has abducted a child. He received no jail time; his punishment was barely a slap on the wrist.
The man threw the children along hallways, grabbed th
em by the throat and hair,
and dragged them upstairs by their ears. He was charged with six counts of
child abuse but was released on bail. He received non-contact orders but quickly broke
them, just as he had broken every non-contact order that had been placed on him for more than 15
years. The family was forced to flee their home. Finally, it seemed that the woman and her
family might be free of that individual—until she sought a divorce. Not only did this
violent man decide to contest t
he divorce; he now wants access to one of the children.
That young child has recovered brilliantly from the hell that she has been put through.
Her family say that she thrives in school, where she gets glowing reports. She has little
to no memory of this horrible man. However, now he is trying to force himself back into
the lives of that child and her mother. The man is using the court system to try
to gain access to the child, forcing the family to relive the traumatic events in
order to
justify why he should not have any access. That is despite the fact that the man
pled guilty to child abuse, and despite the fact that he has been documented as having hit the
little girl and her siblings. Why is he allowed to get away with continuing to traumatise the
girl, her mother and the family? Why is he not prevented from contesting the divorce in the
first place? Why is there not an immediate block on his attempts to see his child? There is
no good reason why the man should be allo
wed to continue harassing the family. He must be forced
to leave them alone, to allow them to move on. He should not have the right to continue
dragging them back to relive what he did. The Government may argue that everyone
has rights and that legal processes must be respected. However, until it steps
in to make changes that stop violent men such as this from continuing to abuse
women, what will happen? The same crimes, the same violence and the same abuse will happen
to women year after
year. We can keep coming to the Parliament and talking about the issue—and
that is welcome—but, at some stage, reality needs to dawn on the Parliament that we need to act.
It is 16 days of action not talking that we need. Anyone committing violence against women
needs to be apprehended, brought to justice and punished. They need to be stopped in
their tracks, not allowed to keep attacking, abusing and traumatising women. Only then will
we see the change in society that women deserve. Imagin
e a Scotland without gender-based violence,
as the motion says, and imagine a world without violence against women and girls. Scottish Labour
is pleased to support the Government motion today. Sadly, sexual crimes in Scotland have increased
by 8 per cent in the past four years, and one woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner
every six weeks. It is still the case that a quarter of women and girls in Scotland will
experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. We are, indeed,
further away
from our goals, not nearer, unfortunately. It is clear that we need a significant
shift in social and cultural norms, as well as a legal reform framework. It is
also clear that our work begins with talking to boys in school settings if we are to
have any chance of breaking the cycle. I look forward to the refresh of the equally
safe strategy, which we will get a chance to debate next week. Last week, Scottish Labour
launched its own report on how to tackle violence against wom
en and girls. During
a year’s consultation that we conducted, we heard how prevalent misogyny is in our
society—not surprisingly. We heard from some amazing women and organisations. I sincerely thank
them for their involvement, and I put on record our thanks to Scottish Government officials
for attending our round-table discussions. It will not be a shock to any woman that
the report found that the justice system continues to fail women and that more needs to
be done to invest in and diver
sify far-reaching services that support women and girls who
are affected by sexual harassment and abuse. Educating boys and young men is key to long-term
change. Getting men involved in our conversations from a young age is one way that we can start
to make serious steps towards tackling the epidemic of male violence. For too long, as
the minister, Siobhan Brown, said, the onus has been placed on women and girls to regulate
their behaviour to accommodate boys and men. Sharon Dowey reference
d the report by the NASUWT,
so I will not go over the points that she already made. Suffice it to say that, although I
am not in any way downplaying the extreme violence in our schools towards male teachers,
female teachers experience more violence than male teachers do. In the past 12 months alone,
one in five women teachers reported being hit or punched by pupils. Some have been spat
at or headbutted. Meanwhile, 64 per cent of girls and young women report that they have been
sexually har
assed at school over the past year. The online environment plays a huge part in
teaching boys that that behaviour is okay. As we have discussed many times in debates, social media
influencers who use platforms to spread misogyny pave the way for a growing rape culture. That is
precisely why we need a comprehensive cross-campus strategy that includes lessons to educate boys and
young men on the links between gender stereotypes and violence. How many more discussions can
we have that are only
women talking to women? We need more male role models to step up and
challenge other men when they witness women and girls being harassed and abused. That applies
to online environments as well as everyday life. As we know, it is also a global fight. As
the minister said, the theme for the 16 days of activism is “Invest to prevent violence
against women and girls”. The need for prevention is increasingly clear. Human trafficking, female
genital mutilation and child marriage are ruining the
lives of hundreds of millions of
girls across the world. Child marriage, for example, is rooted in gender inequality.
It limits access to women and girls’ health and education and their political participation.
It limits the amount of control that they have over their own bodies and increases their
risk of experiencing gender-based violence. However, those problems are happening in our
communities. The number of human trafficking cases in Scotland is at its highest since records
began. Se
venty-two per cent of trafficking victims are women and girls, who are often trafficked
for sexual exploitation. In trying to address the issue, we face criminal gangs that are running
on a global scale. In 2023, a large number of women who are trafficked to Scotland are found
to be Albanian or Vietnamese. They are sometimes held in a network that spans the length
and breadth of the United Kingdom. At the Scottish Police Federation reception last
week, one police officer told me that there
was an incident in which one person in London was
directing men to residential properties around Glasgow. That was not uncommon. In fact, some
of the call centres have operated in Glasgow. Human trafficking has been identified in all 32
local authorities in Scotland. Those groups are organised and have a formal structure that
operates in plain sight. It is important that we recognise how horrific the crime is. The
youngest person involved was just 13 years old. As I have said in previous de
bates, I will
continue my own work on image-based abuses. We need to have clearer law on men who abuse
private images. The Women’s Support Project, which some people had a chance to talk to—it is
an incredible charity—talks about many incidents of that. I will mention how images on the
OnlyFans website are misused. There have been countless cases of creators’ content
being screenshotted, recorded or hacked. It is important to note that, although they
consented at the time, a lot of those c
hild and adult performers are sadly haunted by
those images for the rest of their lives. It is important to debate this important issue in Parliament. Scottish Labour is
delighted to support the motion. Scottish Liberal Democrats
will support the motion. I thank the many organisations that have
been in contact prior to today’s debate for the materials that they
have provided in preparation. They work tirelessly to reduce gender
inequality and gender-based violence. It is important that we
dedicate time
and thought to the issue in the chamber each year. As a member of the cross-party group
on men’s violence against women and children, I know that colleagues across the chamber
spend a large amount of their time addressing the problem. By tackling misogyny and unchecked
behaviour, we can break the link between casual sexism and its development into violence
against women and girls and ensure that “every act of violence against women
and girls, including sexual violence, is une
quivocally condemned, and must be
fully investigated with the utmost priority.” Those are the words of Sima Bahous, the United Nations under-secretary-general
and executive director of UN Women. Today’s debate also serves as a reminder of the
patriarchy and misogyny that prevent women and girls in Afghanistan, Iran and other countries
from being free to have an education. We are once again faced with daily images of the impacts of
conflict on communities. In times of hardship during conflic
t, women often act to absorb the
shocks of the impacts that are felt hardest by them and their children. It is crucial that women
play a significant role in conflict resolution. The cost of living crisis has shone a light
on that same shock-absorber role of women here at home. Shetland’s Compass Centre highlights
that women are more likely to do low-paid work; more likely to rely on public transport, which is
much patchier in remote, rural and island areas; and more likely to struggle with
high childcare
costs. They are twice as dependent on social security as men and they have less access to
resources and assets such as home ownership and occupational pensions. Women are also
disproportionately impacted by welfare reforms, and the Women Against State Pension
Inequality campaigners have waited too long to see redress from poorly
communicated pension reforms. As the motion highlights, this year’s national
theme invites us to imagine a Scotland without gender-based violence. T
hat may seem a daunting
prospect when we read that, in 2021-22, Police Scotland recorded 64,807 incidents
of domestic abuse. In cases where gender was recorded, 81 per cent of those incidents
involved a female victim and a male accused, as Engender highlights. Figures that were
released this week through the Scottish crime and justice survey for 2021-22 show that
perceptions of crime and safety also reveal gender inequality. Although, overall, people are
more likely to feel safe in their c
ommunities, there are sharp differences among the population
when that is broken down. Ninety per cent of men said that they feel safe walking alone after
dark, while only 63 per cent of women agreed. Shetland’s Compass Centre has also raised the
matter of island jury trials. Trials that were previously heard in Shetland are currently
being heard on the Scottish mainland because of staffing challenges with the prisoner escort
provider. Some of the trials that are affected are for GBV-relate
d crimes, and the situation is
having a serious impact on Shetland survivors and witnesses—including professional witnesses,
who have to deal with travel logistics on top of everything else. The centralisation of access
to justice for island survivors is unacceptable and it must be addressed. Failure to do so
will be a barrier to reporting and, ultimately, justice will be denied. It is a backward
step and one that must not become permanent. According to the Scottish Government’s recorded
c
rime figures, 14,834 sexual crimes were recorded in Scotland in the year ending June 2023.
The police recorded 64,807 instances of domestic abuse in 2021-22, four out of five
of which involved a female victim/survivor and a male perpetrator. The figures are
extremely concerning, but gender-based violence is not merely statistics. There are
women and girls behind every one of those figures. Gender-based violence is a harsh reality
that is experienced by our mothers, sisters, daughters and fr
iends. It happens in the home, in
workplaces and outside in public spaces. It knows no bounds and it has a lasting and damaging
impact on the individual and wider society. Unfortunately, every woman has her
own experiences of sexual harassment, assault or violence. I know that my colleagues
across the chamber agree that, to tackle that, it is time to change the narrative and ask why
men are harassing, abusing or being violent, rather than suggesting that women are doing wrong.
This year’s
theme invites us to imagine a Scotland without gender-based violence. That should
not be difficult. The campaign calls on us, as elected representatives, to show
what we are doing to eradicate such violence. We must invest in that for
the future of our women and girls. Key to achieving that is primary prevention,
as the charity Zero Tolerance has highlighted. Secondary prevention—that is, investing in
support during a period of violence or after violence has occurred—is not enough.
That is
why I welcome the Scottish Government’s proposed misogyny bill, which will
put a real focus on protecting women and girls. We know that serious violent acts do not usually
happen out of nowhere. Men do not just wake up and decide to commit heinous violent acts against
a woman. We know that such acts are often an escalation of more low-level misogynistic
views and behaviours. For too long, there has been a societal tolerance of
misogyny across Scotland, which has made our women and girls fe
el unsafe, distressed
and humiliated. That is why the bill is so important. Tackling the root cause and
catching misogynistic behaviour early, before there is a chance of a serious crime
being committed, could be revolutionary. However, although the misogyny bill will be
vital, it can only be part of the response in tackling harassment and violence against
women. How do we stop young men and boys perpetrating such misogynistic behaviour
in the first place, before it escalates? Various piec
es of the academic literature
have pointed to the link between traditional, toxic views of masculinity and harassment
of and violence against women. On its own, holding such views would not be enough—plenty of
men adhere to traditional views of masculinity but would never commit such violent
acts. However, it is still vital that we consider those traditional views,
as that will help us to challenge harmful views of masculinity that condone violence
against women and emphasise men’s dominan
ce. Across the academic literature, it is suggested
that we must reshape those views of masculinity at a young age. That could be done in primary
schools by having more discussions about consent, the use of language, healthy friendships and
what it means to be a good man, rather than just talking about what boys are expected
to do. I would be interested to see further work being done in that area and such
discussions being included across the curriculum. Imagining a Scotland without gender-
based violence
should not be difficult. It is achievable, and I am pleased to see the work that
is currently being done. However, we can always do more, and it is on us
to call out low-level misogynistic behaviours when we see them so that they
do not escalate into the unthinkable. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute
to this debate, which marks the international day for the elimination of violence against women
and the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence that foll
ow it. This is the third year
in a row that I have contributed to the debate, and I cannot help but feel disappointed that the
debate is still considered to be so necessary every year. However, violence against women is
still a fact of life, and until it is stamped out in every part of the world, it is only right
that the Parliament calls out such violence every year. Another year may have passed, but it is
clear that change on the issue is no less needed. This year’s national theme asks us
to imagine a
Scotland without gender-based violence. That is a reminder that violence against women is
not just something that happens far away, in distant corners of the world; every year, it
affects women right here in Scotland. Last year, there were seven domestic abuse-related murders
and nearly 500 charges of attempted murder and serious assault related to domestic abuse, and
nearly 1,800 charges were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service under the
domestic abuse
legislation. We also know that domestic abuse incidents are almost at a record
high. Nearly 65,000 incidents were reported to Police Scotland in 2021-22, more than
half of which involved repeat offenders. Three years ago, the Scottish Government
promised to set up a leavers fund for victims of domestic abuse, so I welcome last month’s
announcement of the new fund for women to leave an abusive relationship, which has been
backed by £500,000 of funding. Too often, women face a financial barr
ier when
attempting to leave their abuser. I hope that the funding will prove to be effective
in breaking that barrier down. As it stands, the pilot funding will be offered to those who
are fleeing domestic abuse in five local authority areas. I hope that the full scheme, which will
cover the whole of Scotland, will follow soon. In last year’s debate on the subject,
I was pleased to be able to speak about my proposed domestic abuse prevention bill,
which had just completed its consultation
phase. I am pleased that my bill has now received
the cross-party support that it needed to process to the next stage in Parliament and that it is
being drafted. More needs to be done to keep tabs on abusers who still pose a risk to potential
victims. At a recent round-table event in the Scottish Parliament, I had the opportunity
to speak to a number of victims of domestic abuse, and one issue that keeps arising is why
the onus is on the victim to speak when they are at risk. A domestic ab
use register would
change that. It would place the onus firmly on the abuser to keep updating authorities such as
the police, so that victims could be kept safe. My bill has expert and grass-roots support,
and I hope that members across the chamber will consider my proposals with an open mind
when they are introduced to Parliament. The 16 days of action against gender-based
violence are a reminder that each of us needs to play our part on the issue. For
my part, I hope that my domestic abu
se prevention bill will take Scotland one step
closer to stamping out this appalling crime. We are all united in wanting to see real change
on the issue. That means working together, backing the amazing domestic abuse
organisations that do such great work in all our communities and
ensuring that we all continue to condemn violence against women and girls in
all forms, at all times and in all places. I have a daughter. I brought her up to be
ambitious, hard working and feisty, and I think t
hat I succeeded, yet I see that she and her
friends have in their lives experiences that are similar to those that have occurred in mine. My
reality has become her reality. How disappointing. Women as a sex class are under assault like never
before: disproportionately affected by Covid, disproportionately affected by a cost of
living crisis, and told by some men what it is to be a woman. Bold changes are needed to
mark significant change, and that needs to start with the plans to criminalis
e prostitution. The
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is
unequivocal. States must address trafficking and prostitution if they are to eliminate
discrimination and violence against women. I know that work on that is under way in
the Scottish Government, and I appreciate its complexity, but I add my voice to the
voices of those who continue to press for ambitious change. As long as women are seen
as a legal commodity to be bought by men
, there will be no significant shift
in men’s violence against women. The ability fundamentally fosters a sense of
male entitlement and ownership that permeates every aspect of our society. Logically, the
term “men’s demand for prostitution” will ultimately need to be reframed as “people’s
demand for prostitution”. How offensive. What does the current data tell us? Police
Scotland recorded that sex crimes rose from more than 13,000 in 2020-21 to 15,000
the following year—a 15 per cent rise
in one year. The breakdown of the 2021-22
data shows that, of all those sex crimes, there were around 2,500 rapes or attempted
rapes and more than 5,000 cases of sexual assault, with the remainder including
different types of online sex crimes. We cannot just attribute that to the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and so on.
Although many types of crime have declined, sexual violence in Scotland has been on
the increase since 1974. Take that in. We know that there is an issue with report
ing, and
the Scottish crime and justice survey of 2019-20 showed that only 22 per cent of victims/survivors
of rape reported to the police. However, as much as we glean new insights, bemoan
gender-based violence and condemn violence against women and girls, it will probably
continue to rise unless radical action is taken. In my short speech today, I want to explore
a new theme—the threat of artificial intelligence. There has been exponential
growth in the generative capacity of AI, which e
xtends to its use in pornographic
imagery. The use of superimposing faces on to nudes or even depicting women
as already nude is already prevalent. Sexual acts using those images in the form
of so-called deepfake images are prevalent. Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday
Sexism Project, writing in the Westminster Parliament’s The House magazine, estimates that
96 per cent of deepfake images are pornography and that the vast majority are of women. The
evidence tells us that women are ta
rgeted. She also states that the UK Government’s Online
Safety Act 2023, which is an entirely reserved matter that runs to some 260 pages, does
not mention women once. How can that be? I will finish with this comment. We have a
significant issue at the heart of our society, and I take comfort from my colleagues such as Ben
Macpherson and Jim Fairlie, who I know frequently call on men to play their part. The sense of
entitlement that some men have—“It does not affect us, so we do not need to
care”—cannot be allowed
to continue. I agree with Pam Gosal that it is depressing to have another debate on a matter
that is getting worse rather than better. We should tackle violence
against women all year round, but the debate provides us with the opportunity
to take stock of where we have reached. It is sad that Rape Crisis Scotland is this year again
having to employ a waiting list for people needing its support. Nobody should have to wait for the
support of Rape Crisis, but we need
to imagine a Scotland where Rape Crisis is no longer required
and where violence against women does not happen. Violence against women is a symptom
of women’s inequality in society, so we need to change attitudes, we need social
change and we need to stop commodifying women. We were promised legislation on
commercial sexual exploitation, and I hope that the minister in summing up will
let us know where the Government is with that, because if we live in a Scotland where women
are commoditie
s, we cannot possibly be equal. We need equality on pay and wealth, and
we need to stop women’s poverty being exploited through prostitution in exchange
for food, clothes, drugs, alcohol and money. Criminalisation needs to target those who feed
the trade, not those who are vulnerable and exploited in it. We need routes out and we
need to make sure that those who are being exploited get the support that they need.
They need to have jobs, security and wealth. I pay tribute to the Women’s Supp
ort
Project, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. It supports survivors
of prostitution by helping, healing, empowering and advocating for them. I hope
that it continues to do that for many years. Members have talked about the trafficking of
human beings. Commercial sexual exploitation feeds that market like no other. If there were no
market, there would be no trafficking. We need to look at things such as saunas, online pimping
and so-called adult entertainment venues. We need to st
op them being allowed to operate in
Scotland without any intervention whatsoever. I refer members to my entry in the register
of members’ interests with regard to speaking engagements with the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe. It has warned that the threat that is posed to Ukrainian refugees
by sex traffickers underlines the need for politicians across Europe to challenge
trafficking. The OSCE also states that the countries that do not challenge sex buying
experience mu
ch higher rates of trafficking. It is obviously in the interest of people
who get wealth and power from trafficking that it continues. However, it is not only the
people who are trafficked who come to harm; trafficking harms the whole of society through
inequality, lack of opportunity and violence against women. Any woman in a society
where women are for sale is fair game, and those who are especially vulnerable,
such as refugees, suffer the brunt of that. In Sweden, where they took action
and imposed the Nordic model, not only did prostitution and trafficking
decrease, the gender pay gap narrowed and caring responsibilities were shared more
equally. The whole of society became fairer. The motion says: “Imagine a Scotland without
Gender-based Violence”. I can; I am an optimist. Together,
we can make that a reality. On 25 November 1960, three sisters, Patria,
Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal—political activists who opposed the cruel and systematic
violence of the Trujillo di
ctatorship in the Dominican Republic—were clubbed to death and
dumped at the bottom of a cliff by Trujillo’s secret police. The Mirabal sisters became
symbols of the feminist resistance and, in commemoration of their deaths, 25 November
was declared the international day for the elimination of violence against women in
Latin America in 1980. The international day was formally recognised by
the United Nations in 1999. Today, we are having a debate that asks us
to imagine a Scotland that is
free of gender-based violence. It is 63 years later,
and we are still asking ourselves to imagine it. There will be lots to say about all the
other things that have happened, but I will focus my discussion on
the same area that I always do, which is the responsibility of men
and boys in ending this scourge. What does it mean to imagine a Scotland without
gender-based violence? What would that look and feel like? It might look like this: women
not having to walk with keys in their hand; not
having to have a safe word to use with bar
staff; not having to worry about walking home alone or about being too provocative in the
way they dress; not having to go into public toilets in pairs; not having to ensure that
they are talking to someone on the phone when they are walking in a park or to stay on
the phone until they get to their house; not having to cross the street to avoid males who
are coming the other way; not having to feel the grip of fear in the pit of their stomach beca
use
there are footsteps behind them in the street; not having to feel scared to voice an opinion
in male company; not having to feel fear about challenging misogynistic groups of males; not
having to ensure that all the doors in their car are locked when they are coming to a junction;
and not having to live in a parallel universe to the people who inhabit the same space as they
do, be it college, work, school, the streets or even their homes. It might look like them never
doubting that the
people they interact with, including and especially those who are there to
protect them, are safe and pose them no danger. A man does not need to imagine all of
that, because that is already our reality, so the debate is asking women to
imagine what it is to live in a society without gender-based violence,
because men never—or very rarely—have to factor in the same issues that are
the everyday norms for women and girls. Many factors have already been suggested as the
causes of gender-base
d violence—such as ingrained gender inequality—but toxic masculinity is
definitely one of the worst factors that we need to tackle. Individuals such as Andrew Tate are
allowed to spew bile and even talk about methods of dehumanising and objectifying women and
girls, and they are allowed to give lessons on how to manipulate and brutalise them
with absolutely no consequences. Perhaps we need to ask whether we are allowing people
such as Tate free speech or whether we are we enabling hate spee
ch. When does it cross the line, or is free speech never hate speech, depending
on your perspective on the issue, be it race, religious or misogynistic? Those are the questions
that we have to wrestle with, and we should. However, whatever the law can or
cannot do, each one of us males has the ability to play a role in making our
reality—one in which we have all of the freedoms that women do not—a
reality for women as well. We are seeing growing numbers
of incidents of toxic, dangerous mas
culinity in schools
and colleges and across society. What are we males doing wrong or not doing enough
of? I am happy to follow the work of White Ribbon Scotland and Zero Tolerance, which Ben
Macpherson will talk about. However, as usual, the women have beaten us to
the starting line. The Young Women’s Movement, and the Bold Girls Ken and Oor Fierce
Girls campaigns are initiatives that young women set up to educate each other and their peers
about consent and knowing what consent is. That
is just one example of the stuff that is
happening. I challenge their male peers. Where are the bold lads ken and oor fierce laddies
campaigns? Where will the first young group of men work alongside their female peers
to make their imagined realities the same? Mr Fairlie, please bring your remarks to a close. If they meet that challenge, all
our realities will be the same. Thank you, Mr Fairlie. As was previously
advised, we have no time in hand. It is vital that we have this debate every
year, but there is also a danger that, in the familiarity of the annual ritual, we lose
the anger of activism, rest in a cosy consensus, think about the issue for 16 days and then
return to the status quo. The status quo for millions of women and girls is a
place of pain and horror. We must not treat gender-based violence as a stand-alone
issue that is divorced from the rest of what we do. Every year, we need not just 16 but 365
days of activism, and we need to use them well. This year, our
national theme, which asks us to
imagine a Scotland without gender-based violence, is about our vision for this specific
country, while the United Nations focus, “Invest to prevent violence against women and
girls”, is about tangible action everywhere, especially economic and financial measures.
We need both the vision and the bold action, and we need clarity about the breadth
and depth of the work to be done. Fantastic initiatives are happening during
this year’s campaign, including much
that is about survival, support and the stories that
individual women share. It is crucial that we listen to those stories, but we also need to hear
and learn from feminist experts about the kind of structural and policy changes that can transform
the lives, safety and freedoms of women and girls. In her award-winning book “The Political
Economy of Violence Against Women”, Professor Jacqui True focuses on two key areas of
potential solution: economic empowerment of women, and men changing
men through positive example.
I spoke about men this time last year—across a series of debates about violence against women,
only a handful of our male colleagues spoke. I encourage all my male colleagues to read the email
that Ben Macpherson sent to us all this morning. This year, I want to talk about Professor
True’s other focus, because gender-based violence is an economic issue on many levels.
We know that poverty is both a cause and a consequence of violence, with globalised
economies
that treat both women and men, and the lands where they live, as mere
counters in a game of toxic capitalism. We know that violence against women is not only
a matter of physical acts that are perpetrated by one individual on another but includes, within
the official UN definition, economic exploitation. Will the member take an intervention?
I am sorry—I do not have enough time. We know that women face violence in
the workplace and in the experience of migrating for work—violence that
is e
nabled and perpetrated through unjust and inhuman immigration and
trade policies. We also know that, in the experience and aftermath of natural
disaster, climate catastrophe and armed conflict, women and their children suffer the
most, including from deliberate violence. The imagined Scotland of this year’s theme
would have transformed not just attitudes and behaviour—putting an end to acts of
individual misogyny—but economic systems, power structures and global and environmental
responsib
ilities. If we are to take that vision seriously, every time that we consider
a policy, we must ask ourselves what effect it will have. Will it act to increase or
decrease the violence that women and girls face? I am grateful for the briefings from Close
the Gap, Engender and Zero Tolerance, which set out some of the ways that we can do
that. That means, within our devolved powers, looking not just at criminal justice
but at the economy, social security, finance, education, health and
the
environment. It also means speaking boldly about reserved policy areas,
especially defence, immigration and trade. On Monday evening, I, with hundreds of others, walked through Dundee in safety and
solidarity as part of this year’s reclaim the night march. Our task here
is to help to reclaim not just the night, but the day and every day to come, for the women
and girls of Scotland and of the world beyond. We already know the many existing dangers that
women face in everyday life. Violence a
gainst women and girls is never acceptable, but do we, as
women, really understand the dangers that we face? Online violence against women and girls
has escalated rapidly in recent years and it poses a major threat to safety and wellbeing.
Technology is not something to be feared—we should embrace it—but we need to be mindful of it, as it
constitutes a space where harm can be perpetrated. The development of artificial intelligence
brings a new discussion about the protection and promotion o
f women’s rights. Biased
attitudes linked to gender roles and identities are programmed into social media platforms
through automated decision making. Therefore, algorithms and devices have the
potential to spread and reinforce unwanted and harmful gender stereotypes,
particularly when it comes to younger men. Research by the Open University found that 17
per cent of women in Scotland have experienced online threats, trolling, unwanted sexual remarks
and other forms of abuse. The 2022 Girl
guiding “Girls’ Attitudes Survey” found that 80 per cent
of girls and young women between the ages of seven and 21 have seen or experienced sexism online,
which is an increase from 68 per cent in 2018. Therefore, there is a need for the
Government to be proactive when it comes to technology-facilitated gender-based
violence, because it takes many sinister forms. There is sextortion, image-based
abuse, doxxing and cyberbullying. Those are all examples of how women can fall
victim to gender-
based violence. The same Open University survey showed that almost
three quarters, or 73 per cent, of women in Scotland and more than half, or 55 per cent,
of men want online violence to be made a crime. The part that should concern us all is that
many women and girls do not realise that they are a victim until it is too late. Sometimes,
those who commit the crime are people whom women and girls should trust. Ex-teacher
James Donoghue was jailed for predatory crimes after threatening two yo
ung women
into having sex with him. He then posed as a modelling scout called Debzie and threatened
to share unconsented filmed sexual content if the victims did not keep in contact with him or
arrange to meet up. He even hijacked and hacked into a computer of one of his targets
during the horrific sextortion plot. It was Donoghue’s own girlfriend who
helped the police to catch him in the act, to get him to confess to what he had done. He
was handed only an eight-year prison sentence, whic
h is not long enough in my view. The predatory
behaviour shown by that vile individual will have caused unimaginable harm to the young women
involved, but they are not alone. That one case shows the danger of access to filming devices and
the rise of social media platforms, should someone wish to use them to inflict unimaginable harm on
women and girls. Therefore, we need to get ahead of the curve when it comes to AI, because AI can
impersonate and, in the wrong hands, manipulate. I welcome
the Scottish Government’s commitment
to strengthening the AI ecosystem, because we need to ensure that the right safeguards are
in place and that we invest in technology to ensure that women and girls cannot be
exploited through that growing technology. We have been unable to eradicate revenge
porn or the online abuse that women receive, as is evidenced by the statistics. Last year
alone, there were 140 domestic abuse charges relating to those offences—and those are only
the ones that wer
e reported. Underreporting of violence against women and girls has long been
a concern, and I encourage anyone who has been a victim of those vile crimes to come forward and
speak out. Accurate data means that we are better placed to understand. As technology advances,
so do the number of risks to vulnerable people. Today is about 16 days of activism
against gender-based violence. Everyone has a duty to ensure that we improve
the lives of women and girls by doing everything that we can to p
rotect them
from the advancements in new technology. Together, we are talking about gender-based
violence in Scotland and around the world just days after the outpouring of grief and outrage
that we saw on the streets of Italy following the death of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old woman
murdered by her former partner. That awful case has thrown light on reports that, on average,
one woman is killed every three days in Italy. In fact, research by the UN on gender-related
killings of women
and girls found that, in 2022, 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally
across the globe, which is the highest yearly number of female homicides recorded in the past
two decades, despite an overall fall in homicide. Sadly, the picture here, in Scotland, is
similar, with 2021-22 homicide figures reflecting that shocking and shameful reality.
Although I know that good partnership work is under way in Scotland through the multi-agency
taskforce that is dedicated to saving the lives of
women and children, we must be clear that,
although gender-based violence affects us all, men’s violence is a men’s issue and all
men must do more to tackle and prevent it. Gender inequality is both a cause and a
consequence of male violence against women. If destructive attitudes towards women do not
change and go unchallenged by men in the home, the workplace, the gym or the pub—wherever
and whenever they occur—we will never achieve the structural and cultural shift that is
needed to era
dicate this scourge in society. The work of specialist organisations such as Zero Tolerance, White Ribbon Scotland and
Social, Health & Education—SHE—Scotland is invaluable in documenting the lived experience of
victims/survivors and ensuring that that is placed at the heart of decision making. That is why I
pledge my support to campaigns for investment in effective primary prevention and to mainstreaming
gender within all Scottish policy. Moreover, male politicians and parliamentarians have
a responsibility and a duty to challenge and positively influence the behaviour of
other men and boys, to bring about change and instigate allyship. MSPs must ask ourselves
how our work affects women and girls, and, vitally, we must actively reflect on our own
behaviours, beliefs and actions in order to show the collective leadership that
is so desperately needed on the issue. For some time, I have thought that it would
be helpful to have a specific set of actions to guide us, which is wh
y I have been working in
collaboration with women’s organisations that have expertise in gendered power dynamics to develop
16 tangible actions that male MSPs and others can take to help tackle and prevent violence against
women and girls. We all have a meaningful role to play in creating the change that is needed to
tackle the multiple drivers of men’s violence and in building a Scotland where violence against
women and girls is not tolerated and no longer takes place. Those 16 actions inc
lude engaging
with local sports clubs and the media about the ways that they promote gender equality, as
well as with local authority colleagues and Government agencies on their work to improve
the safety of our streets and public places. In addition, the Zero Tolerance report on its
future tales project identifies the specific needs of marginalised women and girls from ethnic
minority communities and the importance of taking an intersectional approach. I implore members to
read the report
and thank all the women who took part in the project for their bravery in sharing
their incredibly insightful and powerful stories. Gender-based violence does not happen just during
the 16 days of activism, and work to end it must take place all year round. We can all commit to
doing and saying more. The need for action and to amplify the voices of victims/survivors as
well as the changes that they are calling for has rarely been so important or more urgently
required. Men and boys, in par
ticular, need to do more. The theme of the debate is “Imagine
a Scotland without gender-based violence”. All men and boys should be part of making that happen. I am pleased to follow Ben Macpherson in
the debate. I will start where he left off, by saying that it is important to note, from the
outset, that although we mark 16 days of activism, our activism against gender-based violence
must take place every day and every year. We have heard a number of
rich speeches in the debate; I hope tha
t I will continue in that vein. I pay
tribute to colleagues in the chamber who have campaigned tirelessly over many years and have
worked deeply on such issues. In particular, I pay tribute to members on my party’s
front bench, Pauline McNeill and Katy Clark, for their work on the matter and on the Scottish
Labour Party’s consultation and subsequent report about how we tackle and end violence against women
and girls, which was published at the party’s women’s conference this weekend. The re
port
lays bare some of the challenges that are faced by women and girls and sets out some of the
ways in which we can go about addressing the issues. Once again, I thank them and everyone who
contributed to that work for all their efforts. Like many of my male colleagues
who have spoken this afternoon, I am clear in my mind that the burden of
ending violence against women and girls cannot fall only on women and girls. Women and
girls campaign actively and work tirelessly to raise the issue
s and often have to call out
the perpetrators of the violence against themselves and share their own stories.
It is important that we show them respect, stand in solidarity with them and offer them
our support, but we must also be absolutely clear about the role that men must play in taking
action to tackle violence against women and girls. When I read the report that was
prepared by Scottish Labour, a quote stood out for me as being
critical. A respondent said: “It is men who are missing
in
conversations focusing on tackling” violence against women and “it is men who need the courage to call out bad behaviour when they see
male peers engaging in it.” As men, we must be responsible for our
actions and for ensuring that we do not engage in or perpetrate behaviour that
normalises gender-based violence. Men must be responsible for calling out their
friends and colleagues and they must be active bystanders when they see other men
engaging in misogyny and violent behaviour. What
all the numbers that we are hearing today and
all the crime figures and reporting demonstrate to me is that we must get much more serious
about educating young boys about misogyny and gender-based violence, and we must do
it much earlier. We need to ensure that schools have the resources and confidence to
tackle such behaviour wherever it manifests, to educate both children and
staff, and to ensure that female staff and students feel safe enough to
report and challenge such behaviour. I h
ave been proud and pleased throughout
my career in a council and in Parliament to support organisations such as White Ribbon
Scotland. I commend White Ribbon on the work that it does to ensure that the root causes of
violence against women and girls—namely, harmful and dominant misogyny—are effectively challenged.
We need to change long-established attitudes and behaviours, and to take a preventative approach
in order to stop violence against women and girls from occurring in the first plac
e, rather
than trying to deal with its consequences. I close this speech where I began. I remind
people that taking action on violence against women and girls does not end at the close
of the 16 days of activism—it has to be an on-going effort. It has to be us, as
men, who examine our own behaviours, listen to the experience of women and girls,
and challenge the actions of the men around us. Only with that level of effort will we
change the experiences of women and girls. I welcome the deb
ate on the
16 days of activism against gender-based violence international campaign. The theme of this year’s campaign
is imagining a Scotland without gender-based violence. That vision is important, but it is our deeds and our actions that count.
We all have a responsibility to act and to do all that we can but, as we have heard, that
is particularly so for men in our society. As the motion recognises, addressing
gender-based violence goes far beyond what public policy makers can do. It re
quires
social change and changes in attitudes across society more generally. Without such change, the
societal structures that are already in place, including within public policy, might
compound issues around gender-based violence. Public policy must set the tone and it must
lead. I was privileged to invite a Glasgow-based project called financially included to Parliament
today. It is run by Gemap Scotland and the Glasgow violence against women partnership and is the only
project of its k
ind in Scotland. I thank Amber, Amy, Robin and Rosemary from the financially
included project: I am pleased that they have been able to stay to listen to the debate. As they
told me earlier today, the financially included project focuses on economic and financial abuse
and the economic impact of gender-based violence. I have heard about the significant and meaningful
impact of the work that they do and the positive difference that they have made to the lives of
women who have endured gender
-based violence. The small team of four—a project manager,
a training and network officer, and two welfare rights advisers who specialise
in advising survivors of gender-based violence—use trauma-informed approaches
and make a real difference. To date, they have supported 296 women with specialist
trauma-informed welfare rights and debt advice. They have also trained 71 staff in the
wider advice sector in Glasgow to spot victims of economic abuse, ask them about it and
provide them with su
pport. The team have secured £857,000 in financial gains for clients
through benefit gains or debt write-offs. Significantly, the team has also identified and
supported seven women who have been subjected to gender-based violence and who were losing out on
welfare support because of the heinous two-child benefit cap. Those women were supported
in completing the third-child exception application in order that they could get the
financial support to which they are entitled. I cannot believe t
hat, in our society, they
must do that. The UK two-child cap is, in itself, institutionalised economic abuse.
It must go—no ifs, no buts and no excuses. The economic abuse of women might be invisible
to some people, but it can be devastating to the women involved. I heard examples of women
being pressured by exploitative and abusive partners into taking on unsustainable and
unaffordable debt, and of many other debts being accrued—for instance, rent and council tax
arrears—as a direct resul
t of economic abuse. The specialist support and work of the financially
included project team identifies such economic abuse and supports women who have endured
it. It fits strategically very well with the recently announced £500,000 fund to leave. The
financially included project is funded by the Scottish Government’s delivering equally safe
fund and will run until at least March 2025. I hope very much that any review of the funding
for organisations that deal with the consequences of gend
er-based violence will embed funding
for projects such as financially included for the longer term, and will help to develop
similar models of support elsewhere in Scotland. Of course we all want to eradicate
gender-based violence but, in the meantime, we cannot be naive. We
must ensure that there is meaningful, appropriate and extensive trauma-informed
support, such as that which is offered by the financially included team and others, and
that it is accessible to the women who need it. We
move to the closing speeches. I am pleased to close the debate
on behalf of Scottish Labour. I am also pleased that there has been a
great degree of cross-party agreement. The minister highlighted the need for leadership
across all parts of Government. I look forward to seeing the strategy that she said
would be launched next week. Time is short today. I hope that the Parliament gets
the opportunity to scrutinise that document. Clearly, violence against women and girls
is not just a Scott
ish issue. Understanding why it exists relates to the fundamental
power relationships that continue to exist between men and women. As many members
have said, attitudes need to change. There have been many improvements in women’s
position in society, and many women have won a significant degree of financial independence
compared with women in previous generations. Marie McNair and Pam Gosal spoke about the number
of violent and sexual crimes against women in Scotland. That highlights that,
although some
things have changed, we still face significant challenges. Marie McNair also spoke about the
historical tolerance of violence towards women. I think that most of us will have stories
relating to that from previous generations. Pauline McNeill spoke about the horrors of human
trafficking now in Scotland and about the huge amount of work that needs to be done with
boys, in schools in particular. Beatrice Wishart spoke about women’s dependence on
social security, and Michelle Th
omson spoke about the need for bold and ambitious changes
as well as the rise in reported rapes. Many contributions have highlighted the range
and scale of the challenge that we face. Sharon Dowey spoke about the significant problems
with violence against women staff in our schools and referred to this week’s NASUWT report that
highlighted the rising levels of violence against women teachers in schools. We also know that there
are significant increases in violence against other working wome
n in schools, predominantly
those in support roles, such as classroom assistants. There are also significant issues in
other educational settings. Much work needs to be done in higher education and further education,
although we have not focused on that much today. However, today’s statement on the behaviour in
Scottish schools research is timely. It is clear that we need a cross-campus strategy in schools
to tackle sexism and misogyny and that the voices of girls, as well as those of women
workers,
need to be heard strongly when developing it. Jim Fairlie and Pauline McNeill spoke
about men’s responsibility. It is clear that changing male attitudes through our work
with boys and young men has been central to today’s debate. That is vital if we are to
achieve the societal change that we need. A recent survey by the National Union of Rail,
Maritime and Transport Workers showed that one in three women ScotRail staff said that they
had been sexually harassed over the past year,
but 80 per cent did not report those incidents.
That highlights the challenges that we face on public transport and the need for it to be safe
for women to use public transport. Trade unions have also campaigned on issues relating to
safety at work in other areas—for example, Unite the union has campaigned for hospitality
workers to be able to travel home safely. In its briefing, Rape Crisis Scotland makes
it clear that the six-month extension to the emergency funding that some Rape Crisis
centres
received during the pandemic—that funding has continued—prevented the jobs of 28 Rape Crisis
workers from being lost. When I visited East Dunbartonshire Women’s Aid recently, it said
that its funding from the council had been frozen for many years. In effect, that means
that, year on year, there have been real-terms cuts to front-line services for women
who are being subjected to abuse. Given the cuts in council funding,
that position is not unusual. We face a significant range of
challenges. We
need to reflect on this year’s UN theme—“UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women
and girls”—to which Maggie Chapman referred, and on today’s motion, which highlights
the vision of a Scotland where violence against women and girls has
become a thing of the past. I am pleased to close the debate for Scottish
Labour, which is pleased to support the motion. We want to work on a cross-party basis. It is very
welcome that the Parliament is united on the issue and that we
have been able to have the debate in
the way that we have. I hope that, as a result, we can put together a serious strategy that makes
violence against women and girls part of our past. I am pleased to say that my
party supports the Scottish Government’s motion on this year’s 16 days
of activism against gender-based violence. We have heard a broad range of powerful and
compelling contributions from across the chamber. Sharon Dowey highlighted the case of
a female victim whose suffering has
been made worse by a justice system that is supposed to
protect her. Pam Gosal spoke about the incredible work that she is doing to protect women by
bringing forward proposals for a domestic abuse register. Meghan Gallacher and Michelle
Thomson discussed the rapidly evolving issue of gender-based crime in the digital space.
Katy Clark and Pauline McNeill spoke about the sickening acts of violence that are being
inflicted on female teachers. Maggie Chapman rightly said that we need 365 days
of action,
not just 16. My male colleagues talked about the need for men to address our own behaviour
and to challenge others—hear, hear to that. I intend to speak about only one woman:
Esther Brown. Esther’s friends say that she was generous of spirit, with a heart
of gold, and that she dedicated her life to helping others. On 28 May 2021, aged 67,
she opened the front door of her Glasgow flat. Jason Graham either tricked or
forced his way inside. He punched, kicked and stamped on Esther
’s head and body. He
used a wooden chair leg as a weapon. He raped and murdered her. Her body lay undiscovered
for four days. He was a registered sex offender who was supposedly under the supervision
of a multi-agency public protection arrangement—a serial criminal with a long, depraved history
of targeting innocent women, young and old. A significant case review of Esther’s murder was
published in April. The contents of those 60 pages are jaw dropping. It would take all afternoon to
expla
in the breathtaking incompetence at every level of a system that is supposed to protect
the public from sex offenders. There is page after page of failings. It is a system
that seems to spawn perpetual meetings that achieve nothing. There are armies of obscure
public agencies that appear to be collectively dysfunctional and casually complacent. There
is no simple record keeping and no effective communication. It is a broken system from
top to bottom. The report damns criminal justice social
work, the police, the Scottish
Prison Service and the national health service. The report also generates many more questions
than it answers. We learn that Jason Graham has a history of strangling women. However,
when he first strangled a teenager, he was not prosecuted. The report says
that the case was called in court and then mysteriously vanished. How and why did that
happen? Members will not find the answers in that report. When he strangled a second
teenager two years later, what ha
ppened to him? What sentence did he receive? Members
will not find the answers in that report. Just a year later, Graham inflicted a sustained
attack on a 50-year-old woman in her own home. He punched, bit, kicked, strangled and raped her.
At long last, having amassed many other criminal convictions, Graham was finally put behind bars.
He was jailed for seven years and six months but, due to automatic early release, he was back
out after less than five years. An earlier parole bid was refus
ed because he had not
taken part in a prison programme for sex offenders. However, when he was automatically
released, he had still not done that. He was set free with nothing having been done to
address his offending. How on earth could that be allowed to happen? Again, members
will not find the answers in that report. The report also tells us that, after
his release, he was subject to a curfew, but not once did anyone turn up at his home
at night to see whether he was there. He was trust
ed to adhere to his curfew. The report
calls that “ self-reporting”; I call it naive and negligent. We also learn that his curfew was
eased around Christmas time. What a thoughtful gift for a predatory sex offender. What about
the safety of the women in Glasgow? Who decided that any of that was appropriate and why? Again,
members will not find the answers in that report. The report says that Graham should have been
issued with an electronic tag to monitor his whereabouts, but it does not sa
y
why that did not happen. It does not contain a single word about media
reports that Graham was living in the community under an assumed name.
Why not? Where is the curiosity? Had Graham been put behind bars for his
earlier attacks on women, would Esther Brown still be alive? According to the report,
the answer is no. It states that her murder “could not have been predicted or prevented”. Really? Well, I am sorry, but I
disagree, as do Esther’s friends. The report exposes a catalogue
of
mind-blowing incompetence, but it fails to take the extra vital step
and ask critical follow-up questions. It is like a page-turner novel in which the last
page of every chapter has been torn out. It is sanitised. It is wilfully incurious. It smacks
of protectionism. The omissions are glaring. Fundamentally, this is about
accountability—or, rather, a lack of accountability. That seems to
have been allowed to become the norm in many of Scotland’s self-satisfied
and self-serving public agenc
ies. Esther Brown should be alive today. Graham’s
actions were predictable. Esther’s murder was preventable. She deserved better. The women of
Scotland deserve better. God help the next woman who is targeted by a registered sex offender,
of which there are almost 6,000 across Scotland. Unless the Government acts, we will
be here again: another murdered woman, another review, another report, more lessons
to be learned, no accountability. And repeat. I call the minister, Emma Roddick, to clos
e the
debate on behalf of the Scottish Government. Ms Roddick, if you could take us to decision
time at 5 o’clock, that would be helpful. I want to reiterate what I hope has
been heard loud and clear throughout the debate from members across the chamber: the
responsibility for ending violence against women and girls lies with the perpetrators of the
violence—usually men—and not with the targets. Like many women in this room and many women in
society, I am a survivor of gender-based violenc
e. Although I completely resist any suggestion
that I change who I am to cater to the egos and expectations of abusive men, it is an experience
that changes us. We know that the impact of those acts goes way beyond the immediate and the
obvious. Every time violence against women and girls happens or is condoned, all of our safety
is lessened, discrimination and other prejudices are strengthened, and we all suffer. I commend
Michelle Thomson and others who have used their platform to share t
heir experiences and have tried
to prevent those things from happening to others. I will be honest, Presiding Officer: I
really struggle to imagine a Scotland without gender-based violence, because
the ripple effect would be so wide ranging. What would this Parliament look
like? How many women who have missed out on public life would be making change and
history? To be honest, I do not even know how different I would be in such a country.
That is how vast and deep the impact is. As Rhoda G
rant said, we need social change. She
asked me to respond on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation, and she mentioned the
likes of sex for rent in particular. That is exactly the type of exploitative, horrific
and violent activity that we need to put a stop to. I know that my colleague’s focus
remains on delivery of the commitment to develop a framework to challenge men’s
demand for prostitution. We will see that implemented over the next year and tested
in full, which could lead to
further change. Over the past few years, extensive work has gone
on across the Scottish Government to identify areas in which we can make improvements to support
survivors and prevent violence from happening in the first place. As an example, I note that,
last year, the best start grant was changed to ensure that individuals who are fleeing
domestic abuse with children get the higher rate of support that is usually available for a
first child. That recognises that, although they may previou
sly have had the items that they needed
to look after their children, those may have been left behind by necessity. Importantly, the
grant was also extended to families who take on responsibility for children when they are already
more than 12 months old and to individuals who are granted refugee status, humanitarian protection
or leave to remain under the Afghanistan or Ukraine resettlement schemes, where their other
children were born before their arrival in the UK. Recognising that a hum
an rights culture can
be an extremely strong part of wider efforts to change attitudes, I remind members that
we are preparing a human rights bill that will incorporate into Scots law, as far
as possible within devolved competence, four international human rights treaties including
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. I hope that the
process of incorporation will provide an excellent opportunity not only to raise awareness of
what everyone’s right
s are and to empower them to seek help when those rights are not being
realised, but to educate people that many groups, including women, are still suffering
discrimination, which is often invisible, in modern Scotland. That becomes even
more important when we consider the intersectional nature of gender inequalities. We
know that disabled women, women from racialised minorities and LGBTQI women face multiple
inequalities and barriers to access to support. Understanding that is key if our e
fforts
to tackle those inequalities are to be successful. Just this morning, I heard from Gypsy Traveller
women how racism and dehumanising attitudes towards them and their culture seem to further
stoke or are even used to excuse misogyny and violence against them, particularly online. That
brings me to a point that Meghan Gallacher and others highlighted. People who were born
just a few years after some members in the chamber have spent their teens facing
the prospect of having videos cre
ated of them—Michelle Thomson mentioned sexual
deepfakes—that cause untold damage to their self-confidence and, in the case of girls
at school and girls from particular faith or racialised minority communities, loss of
community when people are not sure whether the videos are real. It is only by understanding
those specific, complicated barriers for people whom we all represent in our roles in Parliament
that we can be allies in tackling those things. On that point, I was very glad to recei
ve a copy
of Ben Macpherson’s 16 suggestions for action. I am already making sure that I meet them all, and
I hope that colleagues in all parties will do so, too. Ben Macpherson has really embodied the
point of the equally safe strategy. We know that the inequalities that we are discussing
run deep. They are so deep that people often reinforce them without even realising it. It
takes real reflection and acknowledgement of responsibility at an individual level
to recognise and reverse that,
as was discussed at Close the Gap’s equally
safe at work event yesterday. Workplaces might genuinely think that they have good
practice, but they will now have to show it, and in the process they might realise that they
are not as on top of things as they thought. If all of us in the Parliament follow Ben
Macpherson’s lead, reflect on our roles and commit ourselves to doing things such as
proactively calling out dangerous behaviours, we can make important change and even spot
things that
we did not pick up on before. It was quite surreal to hear Jim Fairlie—a
man—describe the violence in the everyday steps that we take to protect one other and ourselves,
because it was spot on. He has done the job of considering how it feels to be a woman or girl
and feel unsafe. He was right to describe what men have as a power. There is the type of power that
is relayed by an unequal society—the type that is too often abused—but there is also the power that
he talked about: the power to c
hange things, call out pals and realise that men listen to men. I
have had male friends pretend to be my boyfriend, brother or uncle in a bar in order to get rid of
an aggressive man. I say to men, “Please notice things, as Jim Fairlie has done. Call people out
and protect women. Do not leave it all to us.” Together, we can work to make a Scotland where
nobody has the job of imagining what the country would be like without gender-based violence. We
can eradicate it, but we need to work toge
ther. That concludes the debate on 16 days of
activism against gender-based violence. The next item of business is consideration
of business motion S6M-11478, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary
Bureau, setting out a business programme. The next item of business is consideration
of business motions S6M-11479 and S6M-11480, on stage 1 timetables for bills. The next item of business is consideration of four
Parliamentary Bureau motions. I call George Adam, on behalf of
the Parliamentary Bureau,
to move motions S6M-11481 to S6M-11483, on approval of Scottish statutory instruments
and a statutory instrument, and S6M-11484, on substitution on committees. The question on the motions
will be put at decision time. There are two questions to be put as a result
of today’s business. The first question is, that motion S6M-11469, in
the name of Siobhian Brown, on 16 days of activism against
gender-based violence, be agreed to. For the second question, I propose to
ask a
single question on four Parliamentary Bureau motions. As no member objects, the question is,
that motions S6M-11481 to S6M-11483, on approval of Scottish statutory instruments and a statutory
instrument, and S6M-11484, on substitution on committees, in the name of George Adam, on
behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, be agreed to. That concludes decision time.
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