Meeting of the Parliament 30 November 2022
I absolutely agree with the member on that point, but the trouble is that, as the UN special rapporteur Reem Alsalem said, the proposals
“do not sufficiently take into consideration the specific needs of women and girls in all their diversity”.
It is key to note that Police Scotland has received 521 notifications of sex offenders—I repeat: sex offenders—changing their names in the past three years, according to a freedom of information request by The Herald. It is those predators who are a danger to women, and it is those predators who are actually a danger to trans women as well, yet the SNP and Scottish Greens struck down Russell Findlay’s amendment to make it harder for those sexual predators to change gender.
That is where we are just now, and that is what I would like to say to the member. This is not about anti-trans sentiment at all. It is about ensuring that we write good legislation to prevent that structural violence. We must ensure that women and trans women feel safe in accessing help, or we risk moving backwards.
I will move on to Michelle’s law. Michelle Stewart was murdered at the age of 17 by John Wilson in Ayr. I met Michelle’s mother several times in my constituency surgeries. John Wilson was given a sentence of 12 years and was approved for unescorted access back into the community for eight days at a time in 2018, after serving just nine years. Michelle’s family has launched a campaign, saying that it is unbelievably painful to see her killer on the street, on the bus or in the shops. Michelle’s mother told me how fearful she was when she was doing simple things such as going to the shops to do the family shopping because she was terrified that she would bump into that man. Even when he was in prison, she was terrified of bumping into that man’s father, who also intimidated her. Michelle’s father said that zero action has been taken by the Government. He said that, in the past two years, there have been no changes, and he added:
“I thought it was becoming law but it has disappeared.”
It is time that we started taking action against that type of injustice.
I will talk briefly about social and economic systems. At the weekend, I was in London and my ex-business partner, who is raising capital there, said that he did not realise how hard it is for a business that is run by women to raise capital. He also said that pregnancy can be used in calculations of affordability for mortgages, causing applications to be rejected and a reduction in the amount that is offered for loan. Pregnancy is protected under the Equality Act 2010. In the example that I just gave, I was talking about Santander. In its terms and conditions, it states that it does not discriminate against pregnant women—yes, it does. Women also experience medical and health inequalities in treatment and research. Studies by the University of Chicago and the University of California suggest that women are being widely overmedicated and are suffering excess side effects because drug doses are currently based on studies that are overwhelmingly done on male subjects.
We must make sure that women and girls experience equality throughout all our socially created systems, whether those be medical systems, financial systems or the workplace. Not least, they should experience equality in the laws and systems of Governments. We have travelled far, but we have a long way to go. Men—especially men—need to be prepared to step forward and challenge the behaviour of those around them.
15:51