Meeting of the Parliament 19 June 2025
Ms Mackay might like to listen to my speech—if she does, she will find out.
Meanwhile, the SNP’s proposed misogyny bill is just the latest in a litany of paused, ditched or botched Sturgeon-era policies. The bill was supposed to improve protections for women against misogynistic abuse, but the SNP has shamefully spent so long contesting the definition of a woman that it claims that the window to legislate has disappeared.
Today’s document renews the SNP Government’s call for the full devolution of equality legislation to enable us to enact progressive and inclusive Scottish values. In other words, now that the law on women’s spaces has been clarified, the SNP is demanding the powers to change it and pave the way for self-identification.
Against the background of the Sullivan review and the Supreme Court’s ruling, I want to speak briefly about sex and gender, as highlighted in the Scottish Conservative amendment. Gender is a nebulous word in policy making that is frequently hijacked by activist organisations to promote harmful ideology. Too often, it is conflated with sex.
If we want to be serious about sex-based inequalities, we must use the right words to frame the problem and collect the data to help us to solve it. The NHS is a prime example. Gender markers can be changed with the click of a button. We cannot manage what we do not properly measure. The voices of gender-critical campaigners must be included in Government policy making; there should not be the usual Government-funded echo chamber.
The National Advisory Council on Women and Girls was set up by Nicola Sturgeon, who maligned women for standing up for their sex-based rights during scrutiny of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Women and girls feel badly let down by the SNP Government and we have had enough—[Interruption.]
Some members might not want to hear this, but they should show respect by at least listening to a speech. Not doing so is bad manners.
We have had enough of tokenistic policy papers, supportive soundbites and the SNP’s self-identification obsession. Women want their rights respected, their dignity protected and equality with men.
I move amendment S6M-18016.1, to insert at end:
“; highlights that inequalities still exist for women and girls in Scotland in areas including health, poverty, education, earnings and employment; expresses concern that the Scottish Government continues to conflate the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ following the findings of the Sullivan Review and the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers; believes that progress towards equality for women and girls has been hampered by the Scottish Government contesting the lawful definition of ‘woman’; regrets that the Scottish Government has scrapped plans for a Misogyny Bill, and urges the Scottish Government to urgently ensure that all public bodies are following their legal obligations in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on 16 April 2025.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.