By Democrat reporter
The SNP have ditched their long-promised anti-women hatred law and signalled they would introduce an offence covering prejudice against both sexes instead.
In a major u-turn after years of committing to a misogyny bill, SNP ministers confirmed it would
The SNP have ditched their long-promised anti-women hatred law and signalled they would introduce an offence covering prejudice against both sexes instead.
In a major u-turn after years of committing to a misogyny bill, SNP ministers confirmed it would be dropped in favour of expanding the controversial Hate Crime Act.
MSPs pinned part of the blame on the Supreme Court judgement that sex in equality law is defined by biological sex.
The plans would see the “protected characteristic” of sex – meaning women or men – added to legislation which has been fully in place for just over a year.
It paves the way for crimes of stirring up hatred against men and women to be prosecuted, as well as added a sex-based “aggravation” – a bolt-on for other offences, triggering stiffer punishment.
Freedom of speech protections about misogyny will also be added to the bill, protecting “discussion or criticism”.
Ministers claimed a misogyny bill – recommended in a major review for the government by Baroness Helena Kennedy, a Scot – would be too complex to finish within the remaining year of this parly session.
The u-turn flies in the face of recommendations by Labour peer and human rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy KC’s review of misogyny law.
Her report in 2022 concluded adding sex to the Hate Crime Act would not work as “misogyny is so deeply rooted in our patriarchal ecosystem that it requires a more fundamental set of responses.”
At the time, Nicola Sturgeon said the report from Baroness Kennedy was “ground-breaking”, “bold”, and “far-reaching”.
The lawyer and peer said earlier this month that she was worried ministers would ditch her recommendations “given the divisive nature of public debate around “woke” issues.
She added: “Protecting women and girls from abusive behaviour and threats of rape and violence, online and offline, is very important now.”
Today, Rape Crisis Scotland said in a statement: “This is devastating news. At a time where women and girls are facing unprecedented levels of misogyny, we cannot believe the government have dropped this landmark bill.”
Scottish Labour Justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “This is a shameful broken promise to Scottish women at a time when misogynistic hatred is on the rise.
“The SNP has spent years kicking this issue into the long grass by insisting this approach wouldn’t work, only to perform a screeching u-turn.
“If the SNP had listened to Scottish Labour and other women MSPs who argued for this in 2021 we would already have this protection in place.
“The SNP has wasted the last four years and left women unprotected for no good reason, and now seems to be abandoning the other protections that Baroness Kennedy said were required to protect women – it is a shambles.
“The SNP government must set out how it will make sure these laws properly protect women and cannot be misused to target women.”
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton MSP said: “This looks like a humiliating U-turn from John Swinney and co.
“The misogyny bill is just the latest in a litany of paused, ditched or botched Sturgeon-era policies.
“It’s little surprise it has been scrapped. Who would trust SNP ministers to legislate to criminalise misogyny when they can’t even say what a woman is?
“Misogyny remains a serious problem and it’s crucial that women and girls are protected from all forms of threatening and abusive behaviour in a way that safeguards their rights.”
Feminist policy analysis group MurrayBlackburnMackenzie said: “The Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021 left women behind. The decision to leave out sex meant that police and prosecution practice, and public messaging, left women exposed to behaviour that would not be tolerated against other groups.
“We have seen stark examples of this just in the past few weeks. It has also meant data has not been collected.
“We are pleased that the Scottish Government is finally rectifying this imbalance and hope the order will be brought into force swiftly.
SNP ministers’ latest position – adding a protected characteristic of ‘sex’ to current hate laws – is similar to the idea suggested by judge Lord Bracadale in his 2018 hare crime review for the Scottish Government. It floated an “aggravation” in law based on “gender hostility”, rather than a specific protection for women.
The plans would see the “protected characteristic” of sex – meaning women or men – added to legislation which has been fully in place for just over a year.
It paves the way for crimes of stirring up hatred against men and women to be prosecuted, as well as added a sex-based “aggravation” – a bolt-on for other offences, triggering stiffer punishment.
Freedom of speech protections about misogyny will also be added to the bill, protecting “discussion or criticism”.
Ministers claimed a misogyny bill – recommended in a major review for the government by Baroness Helena Kennedy, a Scot – would be too complex to finish within the remaining year of this parly session.
The u-turn flies in the face of recommendations by Labour peer and human rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy KC’s review of misogyny law.
Her report in 2022 concluded adding sex to the Hate Crime Act would not work as “misogyny is so deeply rooted in our patriarchal ecosystem that it requires a more fundamental set of responses.”
At the time, Nicola Sturgeon said the report from Baroness Kennedy was “ground-breaking”, “bold”, and “far-reaching”.
The lawyer and peer said earlier this month that she was worried ministers would ditch her recommendations “given the divisive nature of public debate around “woke” issues.
She added: “Protecting women and girls from abusive behaviour and threats of rape and violence, online and offline, is very important now.”
Rape Crisis Scotland said in a statement: “This is devastating news. At a time where women and girls are facing unprecedented levels of misogyny, we cannot believe the government have dropped this landmark bill.”
Scottish Labour Justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “This is a shameful broken promise to Scottish women at a time when misogynistic hatred is on the rise.
“The SNP has spent years kicking this issue into the long grass by insisting this approach wouldn’t work, only to perform a screeching u-turn.
“If the SNP had listened to Scottish Labour and other women MSPs who argued for this in 2021 we would already have this protection in place.
“The SNP has wasted the last four years and left women unprotected for no good reason, and now seems to be abandoning the other protections that Baroness Kennedy said were required to protect women – it is a shambles.
“The SNP government must set out how it will make sure these laws properly protect women and cannot be misused to target women.”
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton MSP said: “This looks like a humiliating U-turn from John Swinney and co.
“The misogyny bill is just the latest in a litany of paused, ditched or botched Sturgeon-era policies.
“It’s little surprise it has been scrapped. Who would trust SNP ministers to legislate to criminalise misogyny when they can’t even say what a woman is?
“Misogyny remains a serious problem and it’s crucial that women and girls are protected from all forms of threatening and abusive behaviour in a way that safeguards their rights.”