Hansard

It is important to recognise that, although we have taken huge strides towards eliminating violence against women and towards changing a culture that had accepted it for centuries, there is still a long way to go before we eradicate it completely. We cannot become complacent.

I hope that every member across the chamber will welcome the steps that the Government is taking to put in place Scotland’s strategy to tackle violence against women—although it does not sound like it. It is the first strategy of its kind in Scotland, and as well as focusing our attention on the issue, it ties in more broadly to Scotland’s national action plan for human rights, which is the first of its kind in the UK.

It is becoming ever more clear that violence against women is a matter of human rights. Over the past couple of decades, it has been seen more and more in that light, including at an international organisational level. The former secretary general of the UN, Kofi Annan, said in 1999:

“Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.”

That rhetoric has been echoed by his successor, Ban Ki-Moon.

It is crucial that a strategy to tackle violence against women encompasses the full spectrum of gender-based violence, from domestic abuse to rape and human trafficking, in order to tackle the issues head on. The terms “violence against women” and “gender-based violence” are often used interchangeably, as most—but not all—gender-based violence is inflicted by men on women and girls. It is important that we properly define what it is. It is violence that is directed against a person on the basis of gender and is almost always motivated by power. We must also understand that gender-based violence reflects and reinforces inequalities between men and women.

It is encouraging to see that the Scottish Government is working to reduce inequalities in many areas, all of which will indirectly feed into one another to eradicate gender-based violence in Scotland.

That approach is recognised by the UN commission on women, which stresses that it will take multiple approaches to tackle the issue, from Governments implementing policies to empower victims and prosecute perpetrators to the creation of a culture in which gender stereotypes are broken by encouraging men and boys to take an equal share of responsibilities in their homes and families.

The work of the white ribbon campaign in organising men and getting them to condemn other men who commit violent acts against women has a key role to play, as does the work of the violence reduction unit, which is headed by Karyn McCluskey and which has been at the forefront of groundbreaking research into methods to curb violent behaviour since it was founded in 2005. A method that it has found particularly useful is its mentors in violence prevention project, which involves an approach to gender violence and bullying prevention that is designed to train students to speak out against rape, dating violence, sexual harassment, bullying and all forms of violent and abusive behaviour. It does that by focusing on an innovative bystander approach and teaching viable options in response to incidents of harassment, abuse or violence.

That teaching method is particularly important because research that was conducted by Dr Nancy Lombard on young people’s attitudes to violence found that men’s violence against women was justified through the use of gender stereotypes, and that the triggers for violence that were identified were things that women had not done. The 10 and 11-year-olds concerned already had a view that the victim was to blame, not the perpetrator. That belief needs to be challenged at a younger age, and I hope that the strategy will look at that.

I am sure that the strategy will also recognise the importance of local groups and networks in the prevention of violence, including violence against women, and the vital support that they can provide for women and children. I am delighted that I will host a members’ business debate in the early new year to highlight the work of the children experiencing domestic abuse recovery—CEDAR—project and the Castlemilk Domestic Abuse Project, which includes the work of the women against violent environments group, in supporting women and children who have been affected by violence.

I look forward to seeing the strategy when it is launched next year and firmly believe that it will be crucial as we continue to work to change the blame culture and gender inequalities that we now recognise as being key factors that we need to address if we are stop violence against women once and for all.