Meeting of the Parliament 24 November 2015
Tomorrow is the international day for the elimination of violence against women, which marks the commencement of the annual 16 days of activism to eliminate all forms of violence against women around the world. That runs until 10 December, international human rights day, which is fitting given that violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most grievous abuses of human rights. Tackling it is at the very heart of the First Minister’s personal and political agenda. At the women in the world summit that she attended earlier this year, she expressed her passionate belief that violence against women and girls is not only a result of gender inequality but a cause of gender inequality. The Scottish Government is clear that we will never have true gender equality until we eradicate violence against women and girls.
It is a tragic fact that, today, females in Scotland and across the world are at risk of, and are experiencing, violence and abuse precisely because they are women and girls. In Scotland, gender-based violence continues to disproportionately affect women and girls, with 80 per cent of survivors of domestic abuse and 95 per cent of rape victims being female. Sexual abuse and harassment continue to be an issue, and women and girls from some communities are at risk of, or have experienced, the brutality of female genital mutilation or the misery of forced marriage.
Violence against women and girls is a broad issue that encompasses all those forms of violence. It is completely unacceptable and the Scottish Government is committed to preventing it and eradicating it from society. We have made progress in recent times. Domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault and other forms of violence are now widely recognised to be unacceptable, and those who commit such acts will find themselves faced with the consequences—not just through the actions of the justice system, but in the deep stigma that now attaches itself to the perpetrators of such abuse. That stigma acts as a powerful deterrent, but it is not enough to systematically eradicate the problem.
That is why, in June last year, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities published “Equally Safe”, our shared strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls. It sets out our vision of a strong and flourishing Scotland where all individuals are equally safe and respected and where women and girls live free from all forms of violence and abuse and the attitudes that help to perpetuate them. We acknowledge and warmly welcome the cross-party support that exists for the strategy, which has been shown across the Parliament, and we are willing to accept Labour’s amendment.
The strategy sets out unambiguously that no woman or girl in Scotland should be subjected to violence or abuse of any kind and that no child or young person should have to live with gender-based violence or the impact of it. To achieve that vision, our aim is to work collaboratively with key partners across all sectors—public, private, charitable and civil—to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls.
Let us be clear that there are no quick fixes to this deep-rooted problem; it requires significant economic, social and cultural change over the long term, which calls for the sustained commitment not just of a wide range of partners but of individuals and communities, too. It is underpinned by a gender analysis that is based on the United Nations definition, which recognises that women and girls are disproportionately affected because they are females.