Hansard

In 1999, the United Nations adopted November 25 as the international day for the elimination of violence against women. That violence includes domestic violence, forced marriage, crimes in the name of honour, rape and sexual assault, murder, trafficking and sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment and stalking. The designated day and the 16 days of activism against gender violence campaign that runs on from it are intended to help individuals and groups around the world to work for the elimination of all forms of violence against women. This year, the focus is on activists—those individuals, groups and organisations that have campaigned not just for 16 days once a year but over many years. I want to take up that focus and look back over those years.

All violence is to be deplored, but the statistics justify giving special consideration to violence against women. It is not surprising that it is a feminist analysis of violence against women as a reflection of the power imbalance in society that has largely driven the agenda.

Campaigning by feminists in the past 30 years and more has helped to change dramatically societal attitudes towards rape and sexual abuse, raising public awareness about how widespread sexual violence is and contributing to policy changes and improvements to the way in which the health service and the criminal justice system respond to violently abused women.

Thirty years ago, women who were trying to leave an abusive partner had few options and it was virtually impossible for them to get help from statutory bodies. Women who reported incidents and tried to get help were dismissed as time wasters and the incidents were dismissed as trivial. The attitude was that the woman should go home and make up with her husband and that violence in the home was something that did not happen in that area.

In 1973, activists from the women's liberation movement in Scotland visited a safe house in Chiswick for those who were then termed "battered women". Following that, Women's Aid was established and the first refuges opened in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The refuge movement was determined not to replicate the dismissive attitudes that were prevalent and recognised that any woman can be at risk of domestic abuse, regardless of class, race, religious or ethnic group, sexuality, disability or lifestyle.

Rape is one of the most extreme forms of violence against women. Rape crisis centres opened in Glasgow in 1976 and in Edinburgh in 1978 at a time when, all too often, the official approach was characterised by attacking, blaming and disbelieving the women who complained of rape. The work of rape crisis centres, therefore, regularly involved challenging deeply sexist myths and beliefs about rape and rapists, including arguing that rape within marriage must be treated as a crime. Rape crisis centre workers—all of whom were unpaid in those early days—wrote letters, gave talks, lobbied MPs and spoke to groups of lawyers, police, doctors and others whose attitudes affected the ways in which women who had been assaulted were treated. A range of groups and organisations, including Rape Crisis Scotland, Women's Aid and abortion campaigners, worked together in demanding a complete change in attitudes to women.

In 1992 came the first crime prevention campaign in Britain to tackle the issue of male violence against women and children—the zero tolerance campaign. Launched by the City of Edinburgh District Council's women's committee, it centred round the three Ps: prevention, protection and provision. Zero tolerance makes the links between different forms of violence against women, recognising that the causes of violence against women are based on wider inequalities and power relations in society. It aims to prevent male violence before it happens and it stresses the importance of long-term public awareness raising in any strategy to prevent male violence against women and children. The respect initiative, which targets young people, is also aimed at changing attitudes to prevent violence before it happens.

In 30 years, a veritable army of women has worked to tackle violence against women and has supported women in escaping from and surviving violence that has been perpetrated against them by the men in their lives. Any long-term solution requires fundamental changes in the societal attitudes that ignore, excuse and even justify male violence against women. It is non-perpetrating men who are most able to move attitudes forward, yet those are the men who readily state that violence against women has nothing to do with them and do not choose to get involved.

In 2004, Amnesty International launched a global campaign that explicitly set out to involve the vast majority of men, who are not perpetrators of abuse, in seeking long-term solutions to address violence against women. More recently, Amnesty International co-hosted with Men's Health Forum Scotland the conference that Malcolm Chisholm mentioned. Part of the stop violence against women campaign, it was entitled "Involving Men" and focused specifically on the role of men and boys in addressing violence against women. It was a starting point to identify, create and promote strategies to enable non-perpetrating men to speak out against violence against women and become involved in bringing about cultural change. That is an exciting and necessary development in the history of initiatives to eradicate the root cause of violence against women.

Violence against women is not a women's issue. It is a community problem that must be tackled by men and women working together to find solutions. We have come a long way in 30 years and it is fitting that we recognise and thank all those who have contributed to the progress that has been made. I commend and wish well all those who will build on that progress and take us forward.